KATHMANDU, SEPT 27: India's domination in the pool continued unabated as Nisha Millet sunk yet another record on her way to winning two more gold in the swimming events of the eighth SAF Games here today.Adding to her yesterday's 100m freestyle gold, the Indian mermaid was involved in a neck-and-neck race with her compatriot Shikha Tandon, before winning by one-hundredth of a second to win the 400m freestyle gold with a record timing of 4 minutes 38.29, bettering the 4:55.79 set by Sangeetha Rao of India in the 1991 Games.Shikha lost in a photo finish by a split second. Nisha also won the 100m backstroke to bag her fourth gold in this Games, ahead of her sister Reshma with a time of 1 minute 12.12 secs. The latter clocked 1:13.03 to win the silver.In the men's events, India suffered a reverse at the hands of Pakistan when N Suresh Reddy lost to Kamal Salman Masud in the 200m butterfly, while TK Senthil Kumar and Kailash Nath won 200m backstroke and 400 freestyle gold in style to swell the medal'stally.Lifters start wellIndian lifters started their medal hunt in grand style winning both the gold at stake on the opening day of the weightlifting events.T Muthu gave India the first gold when he easily won the 56 kg category with a total lift of 240 kg (snatch 105 kg, jerk 135 kg) behind Pakistan's Ghafoor Ishtiaq (238 kg) and Nepal's D Rakesh Ranjeer (220 kg).M Arun completed the day on a happy note pocketing the 62 kg event gold with a total lift of 280 kg. Way ahead of Pakistan's Irfan Islam (268 kg) and Bangladesh's Hamidul Islam (243 kg).The revised weight categories, which was introduced for the first time in this year's edition, did not not bother the Indian lifters who performed creditably.Muthu started with 100 kg in the snatch and improved upon by five kgs in the second. He however, faltered in the third when the barbel was loaded with 107.5 kg. Ghafoor on the other hand, improved upon by five kgs in every lift starting with 95 kg in the first and cleared 100 kg in thesecond. He tied with the Indian in the snatch easily clearing 105 kg in his third and last attempt.But it was with a jerk that the Indian managed to march ahead of the Pakistani. Muthu started with 130 kg whereas Ghafoor started with 127 kg then cleared 132 kg in the second, before trying 137.5 kg in his third and final attempt but in vain. Muthu easily cleared 135 kg in his second attempt to assure Indian of a gold.India break Nepali domination in karateAt last a gold medal for India in karate. Breaking the monopoly of the Nepalese in their traditional martial art sport, Damang Syngkon won the first karate gold for India in the men's under-50 kg.Damang won on points against Md Razaul Karim of Bangladesh to lend India the first gold, after Nepal swept all the six gold at stake on the opening day yesterday.Karate was introduced this year apparently to increase the medal prospects of the host nation. Nepal won three of the five gold today to take its tally to nine. Pakistan and Indiaaccounted for the other two gold. India also won two silver (Vishnu Mohan Yogitha, S Shibani Kulkarni) and two bronze (S Bhoma Vinod, Koti Chandrasekhar Shetty).India beat Nepal, BangladeshIndia started their gold defence in style registering easy victories over hosts Nepal and lowly Bangladesh in kabaddi. In the five-team league, India were now now sitting pretty with four points from two matches. India first demolished Bangladesh 21-8 after leading 16-2 at halftime to claim their first victory.Later in the evening, India had to stave off a strong challenge from Nepal, especially in the second half, before trooping out deserved winners by a 40-20 margin.
