Shiva strikes gold

NEW DELHI, AUG 22: Shivananda Singh gave India’s its first gold medal as the 11th Asia Pacific Age Group swimming championships got underway at Kaoshiung (Chinese Taipei) on Friday. Besides, the gold, Indians also won one silver and two bronze medals. The silver and two bronze were won in diving events, according to information received here.

Shivananda Singh, who will also be figuring in the backstroke and butterfly events, grabbed the 50m breaststroke gold in the under-10 group in 36.82 seconds.

India Suparna Paul took the silver with 240 points in the High board event in Group C, while teammate Sweta Gogtay was third. Ishani Ghosh finished third in high board in Group D girls with 246.39 points. Viraj Patil, who won two gold at the Bangalore National Games, was unlucky to miss a medal narrowly, finishing fourth in boys group C high board diving. Delhi girl, Rakhi Mehra also missed a medal very narrowly ending fourth in 200m medley.