Richa, Akbar Ali emerge best

Richa Mishra's ten gold medals earned her the title of best individual women's performer as her Police team emerged overall champions in the 55th senior National Aquatic championships in Calcutta on Friday.

Akbar Ali Mir of Railways, who was adjudged overall individual champion, took the men's individual title, with 56 points.

The 16-year old Police girl Richa, who garnered 88 points, clocked 2:26.74 seconds in the 200 metres butterflystroke to win her tenth gold on the concluding day of the championships.

However, Karnataka's Reshma Millet spoilt Mishra's party by winning the women's 100 metres freestyle, clocking 1:00.86 seconds. Mishra finished second in 1:42.95 seconds, while Maharashtra's Tejaswi Shetty took the bronze with 1:43.70.

Karnataka's Archana Bhusan bagged the silver in 2:34.59 seconds in the 200 metres butterflystroke while her compatriot Chitra Krishna had to rest content with the bronze in 2:36.85 seconds.

The police team's Amar Muralidharan won the men's 200 metres butterflystroke gold, outswimming Shreesh Reddy of Railways with a timing of 2:10.77 seconds. Reddy clocked 2:11.74 seconds while Pankaj Das of Railways claimed the bronze in 2:12.47.

The Police emerged the men's team champions with 139 points while the Karnataka women took the women's title with 177.

The Police were overall team champions with 245 points and Karnataka second with 237.

Deepak Kumar of Police set a national record in the 200 metres breaststroke, clocking 2:28.99 seconds. The previous record was held by Delhi's Umesh Tokas, whose record of 2:30.70 was set in 1997.

Karnataka's B Vinay also bettered the meet record, clocking 2:29.64 seconds, to bag the silver. M Premananda of the Police took the bronze with a timing of 2:35.84.

Veteran Sebastian Xavier of Railways was outsmarted by T A Sujith of SSCB in the 100 metres freestyle. Sujith timed 53.80 seconds to claim the gold while Xavier took the silver in 54.58 seconds. The bronze went to Railways' Akbar Ali Mir.

The Karnataka women won the 4x400 medley gold, clocking 4:53.99 while Maharashtra finished second in 4:59.18 seconds.

Kerala took the bronze in 5:03.33 seconds.

The Railways retained the men's waterpolo title defeating Services 8-7 while Bengal regained the women's crown, beating Maharashtra 5-4.