THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Nov 11: Insipid may be the apt word to describe the action on the third day of the 52nd National Aquatics Championships held at Water Works Swimming Pool here today.

The records remained under cover but the day was eventful for the drama which took place during the start of the newly introduced 50 metres breaststroke.

Abe Jose of Services turned out to be the surprise winner in 50 metres breaststroke beating sentimental favourite Sebastian Xavier and Umesh Tokas. But Abe's fine effort was buried in the controversy which followed the race.

Police's Harinder Singh, who finished second, was disqualified for foul start. Kailash Nath coasted to his fourth gold in men's 400 metres with consummate ease. Pulling ahead of the field with powerful strokes, Kailash was racing against the clock. Despite his domineering show, Kailash failed to reach anywhere near Abhijit's meet record (4.15.32 secs), clocking 4.21.07 seconds for the gold. For the record, P Vimal Kumar of Railways and Benoy Sebastian of Services finished in the order of merit.

In Sajini Shetty's absence, Zeba Wadia was the overwhelming favourite to win 50 metres breaststroke. She had difficulty in beating back the challenge of Rupali Dey and Sumi Cyriac to win the second gold of the meet.

Results (all finals)

400m freestyle: 1 Kailash Nath (Pol) 4.21.07 sec, 2 P Vimal Kumar (Rlys), 3 Benoy Sebastian (SSCB)50m breaststroke: Abe Jose (SSCB) 0.30.53, Sebastian Xavier (Rlys), Umesh Tokas (Del), 4x200m freestyle relay: Police (Sujeet Mukherjee, Elvis Ali Hazarika, Kailash Nath, SH Hakemuddin) 8.20.26, Railways, SSCBWomen: 800m freestyle: Darshana Rajaram (Kar) 10.03.02, Chitra K (Kar), Sumisha (Ker); 400m Individual medley: K Chitra 5.37.57, Sumi Cyriac (Ker), M Usha (Ker); 50m breaststroke: Zeba Waidia (Mah) 37.95, Rupali Dey (Ben), Sumi Cyriac (Ker); Diving (Spring board women): Ishani Ghosh (Rlys) 319.30 pts, Suprarna Paul (Beng), Shewta Gogtay (MP)

Waterpolo (men): Maharashtra 9 (Rajeev Thakkar 4, Sanjay Karandhkar 4) bt Kerala 6 (Ajay Kumar 2, G Biju 2, TK Ganasan 2); Police 10 (Gopakumar 4, Preemjit SIngh 3) bt Bengal 6 (Nam Gopal Ghosh 3); Services 12 (B Rai 5, Sreekumar 5) bt Punjab 3

Waterpolo (women): Bengal 10 (Deepa Majumdar 3) bt Karnataka 1

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