Shrungi Bandekar and Sanjana Prabhugaonkar added two bronze medals to Goa’s medals tally from the aquatic arena on Tuesday as the hosts continued their strong showing in the 37th National Games.
Bandekar, who was one of the five medallists for Goa in the last edition of the Games in Gujarat, clinched the bronze medal with a time of 5:13.69 sec.
Later, Prabhugaonkar bagged her second medal of the competition, winning the 200m backstroke bronze with a timing of 2:23.64s. She had earlier won the silver medal in 200m freestyle category on the opening day of competition.
With a sizeable crowd gathering at the swimming pool to watch the local stars, both Bandekar and Prabhugaonkar did not disappoint.
Bandekar, who trains in Bengaluru, had raised hopes of a higher medal when she was going strong in breaststroke. But Karnataka’s S Lakshya (5:12.27s) and Hashika Ramchandra (5:13.42s) not only caught up with her in the final freestyle leg but leapfrogged her for gold and silver respectively.
Speaking after the race, Bandekar said it was a great feeling to win a medal in front of the home crowd. “Last year I won a medal in my last race of the competition in Goa. This time, it is my first race. I have two more events to compete and I will attempt to make a hat-trick of medals.”
In the 200m backstroke, Prabhugaonkar raised hope of a gold medal for Goa when she led for about 20-25m after the second turn but could not maintain the same pace and had to take the bronze. Palak Joshi (2:22.12s) of Maharahstra won the gold while Bengal’s Soubrity Mondal (2:22.39) took home the silver.
“I am happy with the way the race went. I didn’t realise that I was in the lead as I was concentrating on giving my best. I am happy that I could register my personal best timing.”
