Nasir Yahya Hussain and Duana Lama shattered more national records in swimming at the Ninth National Games in Pokhara on Sunday.

Army’s swimmer Hussain set new national records in men’s 200-metre freestyle and 200-metre individual medley on the way to two gold medals at the Fishtail Academy’s swimming pool.

Hussain timed 1 minute 55.39 seconds in 200m freestyle to better his own record of 1:58.30 seconds that he set at the 15th FINA World Swimming Championships (short course) held from 16 to 21 December 2021 in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates.

Army’s Alexander Shah (1:55.48) and Arvin Shrestha (2:2.75) won silver and bronze medals, respectively.

Later in the evening, the 16-year-old also improved his own record of 2:11.85 seconds set in Abu Dhabi to complete the 200m medley at 2:11.23 seconds. NRNA’s Ashish Sapkota (2:13.98) won silver and Bagmati’s Souren Singh (2:19.91) bagged the bronze medal.

Hussain has now set three new national records at the Games, with his first milestone coming in the 1,500m freestyle event when he clocked 16:50.21 to win gold and tumble his own previous record of 17: 49.95 set during 13th South Asian Games (SAG) in 2019.

Army’s Lama has also shone in the pool.

Lama on Saturday broke star swimmer Gaurika Singh’s record of 2:32.00—set during the Eighth National Games—in the 200m individual medley in the heat round with a new timing of 2:31.46. Lama then went on to improve her own new record to win the final, taking 2:30.67.

She was unstoppable on Sunday as well. Lama set another national record in the women’s 50m breaststroke as she completed the distance in 35.23 seconds to shadow her own three-year old record to 35.46 seconds she set in the 13th SAG.

Gaurika wins gold

Gaurika overcame health issues to win two golds in the 100m backstroke event.

Army’s Gaurika, the winner of four gold medals at the 13th SAG and 12 golds at the Eighth National Games, had pulled out of 100-metre women’s freestyle and 200-metre women’s backstroke finals due to an ill stomach.

She also withdrew from 200m freestyle and 800m freestyle events on Sunday but recovered to win her first gold of the Games, taking 1:5.5 seconds in the 100m backstroke.

Gaurika also teamed up with Duana, Anushiya Tandukar, Upasti Maharjan in the 4×100m relay to win her second gold medal, clocking 4:19.45 seconds.