Thiruvananthapuram: Asian Games medallist Tintu Luka ruled the track on the final day of competitions as she smashed an 18-year-old meet record to win 800m gold before inspiring Kerala to 4x400m gold in the 35th National Games on Friday. Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) notched up a hat-trick of overall titles by finishing atop medals table.

SSCB led the tally on account of a higher number of gold medals and emerged as the overall champions for the third time in a row. The team ended with 158 medals (91 gold, 32 silver and 35 bronze), followed by hosts Kerala, who rode on a strong athletics performance to total 161 (54 gold, 46 silver and 61 bronze) and Haryana (39 gold, 40 silver and 27 bronze).

In women's heptathlon, Bengal's Swapna Barman emerged as the champion after logging 5288 points. Kerala pocketed the silver and bronze medals through Liksy Joseph (5263) and Niksy Joseph (5055) respectively.

On the final day, vociferous home supporters filled the athletics ground and Tintu's star turn made their day.

Protege of the legendary P T Usha and an outright favourite before the 800m race, Tintu lived up to the billing as she freezed the clock at 2:01.86sec to win the gold and better the 2:03:08 sec mark created by KC Rosa Kutty way back in 1997.

'I am very happy because I have broken the meet record,' Tintu said.

Asian Games bronze medallist Lalita Babar also lived up to the favourite tag as she breached the meet record to clinch the 3000m women's steeplechase gold with a timing of 9:42.63 sec - a massive improvement on the previous mark of 10:40.81 sec set in the last edition of the Games by Priyanka Singh Patel. Babar, representing Maharashtra, is also the national record holder in this event, which currently stands at 9:35.37sec.

The men's 800m gold was bagged by Kerala's Sajeesh Joseph for a third successive time after he crossed the finish line in 01:53:68sec, ahead of SSCB's Jinson Johnson (1:53:88sec) and statemate Muhammed Afsal (1:54:08sec)

The women's 200m sprint turned out to be quite a stunner as pre-pace favourite Dutee Chand was outshone by local girls Santhini V and Anilda Thomas. Dutee, who won the 100m gold with a Games record, had to settle for a bronze clocking 24:56 sec. Santhini won the gold with a timing of 24.11sec, while Thomas ended third after clocking 24.11sec.

Later in the women's 4x400m relay, Tintu outshone Dutee, the 100m champion, as she inspired Kerala's team to a gold by handing the hosts a decisive edge in the second lap much to the joy of a packed University Stadium ground. Kerala's team combined to clock a new meet record of 3:35.34sec, beating Andhra Pradesh's mark of 3:36.25sec. Karnataka (3:42.66sec) snatched the silver leaving Haryana (3:43.83sec) at the second position.

Among the men, Haryana's Dharambir completed a golden double and after the 100m gold with a meet record, he notched up the 200m top honours, again with a new Games mark, after clocking 21.12 sec to finish ahead of Tamil Nadu's Manikanda Arumugam Manickam (21.53 sec) and Odisha's Amiya Mallick (21.57 sec). Dharambir bettered Ajay Raj Singh's previous mark of 21.20sec, which was set in 2001.

SSCB added to their strong showing in athletics when Naveen Kumar bagged the 3000m men's steeplechase gold in 8:52.54 sec. Another SSCB man, Jaiveer Singh, was placed second with a timing of 8:54.67 sec, followed by Maharashtra's Sachin Patil (9:00.27 sec).

Tamil Nadu won the men's 4x400m relay in 3:11.26 sec, followed by Bengal (3:11.50 sec) and hosts Kerala (3:11.63 sec). Kerala expectedly topped the medal count in athletics with 13 gold, as many silver and eight bronze medals.

At the badminton finals in Kochi, Madhya Pradesh's Sourabh Verma won the gold medal after defeating Haryana's Akshit Mahajan 21-17, 8-21, 21-18. The women's gold was clinched by home favourite P C Thulasi, who sailed past Telangana's Rituparna Das 21-18, 21-18.