Former international swimmer Monikankana Dutta Baruah (right) congratulates Fariha Zaman on Monday. Picture by Eastern Projections

Guwahati, Feb. 12: Local swimming sensation Fariha Zaman, who has earned the epithet “mermaid,” today failed to turn the tide at the National Games. Braving the evening drizzle, the crowd burst into cheer as soon as Fariha took the plunge. But her finishing second dampened their spirits.

She bettered the National Games record in the 200 metres backstroke but had to be content with a silver medal.

Over a thousand spectators prayed for a gold for Fariha, but luck favoured Delhi girl Richa Mishra, who seemed to be unstoppable in the pool, clocking 2:29.34 minutes to set a new record.

Fariha, a SAF Games gold medallist, clocked 2:29.81 minutes to better the earlier Hyderabad National Games record of 2:30.32 minutes by Karnataka girl Shikha Tandon. Sony Cyriac of Kerala claimed the bronze, clocking 2:34.67 minutes.

Fariha also participated in the 50-metre freestyle at the Zakir Hussain Aquatics Complex but finished sixth with a timing of 29.19 seconds.

Mishra, who is having a whale of a time in the pool with five golds so far, clocked 5:12.65 minutes for the 400 metre women’s individual medley gold but failed to better her Hyderabad Games record of 5:09.91 minutes. She, however, failed to make it to the victory stand in her sixth event (50-metre freestyle) where Shikha Tandon bettered her own record of 27.45 second set in the Hyderabad Games clocking 27.34 second for the gold.

The day saw five records tumble in the pool where Karnataka man Rehan Poncha clocked 4:44.32 minutes to upset the earlier Bangalore Games record of 4:47.94 minutes set by Abhijith J. of Karnataka in the 400-metre individual medley.

The silver and bronze winners — Srinand Srinivas of Karnataka (4:46.58 minutes) and Aditya Sangvekar of Maharastra (4:47.86 minutes) — also bettered the existing records.

Poncha later won the 200- metre backstroke gold, setting a new record of 2:11.65 minutes. He shared the gold with Rohith R. Havaldar of Karnataka, who also clocked the same time.