Pole-vaulter Siva Subramaniam, weightlifter Sambo Lapung break records on way to gold medals in National Games

While Siva from Services soared over 5.31m to break his own national record set four years ago, Sambo, representing Arunachal Pradesh, lifted 198kg to break the Clean and Jerk national mark in 96kg men's weightlifting. Egged on by a seizable crowd at the IIT Gandhinagar, Siva Subramaniam first broke the National Games record, set at 5.10m by Vijay Pal Singh back in 1987, by clearing 5.11m. He then soared over 5.21m and asked for the bar to be raised at 5.31m, with an eye on the national record.

He failed on the first try but cleared it the next time. Arunachal Pradesh's weightlifting star Lapung broke clean and jerk national record in the 96kg class, lifting 198kg on his way to gold at the Mahatma Mandir Complex here. Lapung had missed his date with the record in the National Championships in Bhubaneswar earlier this year when the judges ruled his attempt as a No-Lift.

But on Monday, there was no stopping him from regaining the national record from Vikas Thakur (Services). Services' Jagdish settled for silver with a total of 331kg, 15kg less than Lapung. In swimming, SP Likhit earned two gold medals for Services at the Sardar Patel Aquatics Complex in Rajkot.

He first won the 200m Breaststroke gold and then swam a leg in the Services 4x100m Medley Relay triumph. Hrutika Shriram (Maharashtra) claimed her ninth gold medal in the National Games, her first in this edition, when she expectedly won the women's 3m Springboard Diving contest. Notching up a tally of 179.15 points, she promptly dedicated the gold to her coach-husband and two-year-old son.

Kirpal Singh (Punjab) also set a new National Games record en route to his Discus Throw gold. His 59.32m broke a 25-year-old mark set at 58.56 by Shakti Singh. Gagandeep Singh