Calcutta, Nov. 8 :    Calcutta, Nov. 8:  Sebastian Xavier's 11-year reign as the country's fastest swimmer ended today when Thankappan Ambikadevi Sujith snatched the 50m freestyle gold in a close finish at the 55th senior national aquatic championship today. The Trivandrum-based Sujith, a naik subedar in the Army, clocked 24.60 seconds. Xavier came in at 24.66. Karnataka's Reshma Millet emerged the fastest woman at 28.15. Richa Mishra grabbed her seventh gold with a national record - her second of the meet - of 2:49.88 in 200 breastroke. She erased Sajini Shetty's mark of 2:51.55, set in 1994. Railways' Akbar Ali Mir also took his gold tally to seven, winning the 4x100m relay and the 200m individual medley titles. V. Sivaranjani, the 12-year-old from Bangalore's Basabanagudi Aquatic Centre, claimed the women's 200m IM. The youngest participant in the competition clocked 2:34.46. At the end of the fourth day, Railways and Police are leading the men's and women's team championships, respectively. Xavier didn't seem too perturbed by today's defeat. 'It can always happen after so many years. Winning or losing is part of the game,' he said. 'In fact, I expected Sujith to do even better since he gave me a good fight during the last nationals. Anyway, I'm happy with my timing,' Xavier added. Reshma Millet of Sofia High School, Bangalore, had hoped to go below the 28-second mark in the 50 freestyle. Her best timing is 27.95, recorded at the state meet and junior nationals in Ludhiana in 1998. She plans to train in Australia again, for which she has already bagged a scholarship after completing her ICSE in March. RESULTS SWIMMING: MEN - 4x100m relay: Railways (Akbar Ali Mir, Veeramani, K. Suresh Kumar, Sebastian Xavier, 4:08.03); Police (T.K. Senthilkumar, Deepak Kumar Singh, Yudhvir Tokas, Amar Murulidharan, 4:08.99); Services (Miritul Rehman, Abe Jose, Anil Kumar, T.A. Sujith). 200m medley Akbar Ali Mir (Rlys, 2:14.31); Deepak Kumar (Pol, 2:14.65); T.A. Sujith (Ser, 2:18.73). 50m freestyle: T.A. Sujith (Ser, 24.60); Sebastian Xavier (Rlys, 24.66); Akbar Ali Mir (Rlys, 25.21). WOMEN - 200m medley: V. Sivaranjani (Kar, 2:34.46); Chitra K. (Kar, 2:36.26); Bhavana Sharma (Mah, 2:37.75). 50m freestyle: Reshma Millet (Kar, 28.15); Richa Mishra (Pol, 29.32); Tejaswi Shetty (Mah, 29.50). 200m breast stroke: Richa Mishra (Pol, 2:49.88, NR); Ambica N.S. Iyengar (Kar, 2:53.27); Archana Bhusan (Kar, 2:57.24). DIVING: MEN - 3m: Yogesh Watve (Ser, 469.75); Umesh Prasad (Rlys, 447.80); G. Prem Kumar (Ser, 427.55). WOMEN - 3m: Taniya Ganguly (Rlys, 337.00); Mamoni Mondal (Ben, 329.45); Suparna Paul (Rlys, 295.80). WATERPOLO: MEN - (Semi-finals) Railways bt Police 11-6; Services bt Bengal 12-6. WOMEN - Kerala bt Maharashtra 5-2.