Maharashtra got off to a very strong start to defending their title as they claimed nine medals in swimming, including three gold, on the opening day of the 24th Sub-junior National Aquatic Championships at the Fatorda swimming pool here on Thursday. Karnataka were slightly behind with a total of six medals — two gold, two silver and as many bronze medals.

Maharashtra won two gold and one silver in the diving events at Panjim, while Karnataka pocketed one silver.
Four National records were bettered on the inaugural day, one of which was set by Karnataka's Prathima Kollali in the girls Group III, 200 metres freestyle event.

Prathima clocked two minutes, 20.80 seconds as against Surabhi Tipre’s old record of 2:23.81, set in 2005.

Total command
Prathima, a trainee of Nihar Ameen at the KC Reddy Swim Centre in Bangalore, was in complete control and held a good lead over the second-placed Kanchi Desai of Maharashtra in the second 50 metres. The seventh-standard student of Presidency School never looked back thereafter.

However, Maharashtra's Yudishtir Jai Singh had it tougher in the boys Group III, 200M freestyle event. Having got closer to his personal best of 2:18.30 in the heats in the morning, Yudishtir fought back after Kerala’s Visakh S S got a slight lead over the Maharashtrian in the final.

After Yudishtir took the lead, Uttar Pradesh’s Sachin Kumar Maurya and Karnataka's Prajwal K S, who got menacingly close, began to push the Mumbai lad.

Yudishtir, a trainee of Smita Digvikar, gave it all in the last 50 metres and won comfortably in 2:15.58. The old record stood at 2:17.44 (Saurabh, Maharashtra, 2006). Sachin took the silver, while Prajwal settled for the bronze.

National record
Assam’s Sagar Kumar rewrote the National record in the boys Group IV 50M butterfly event, while Maharashtra’s Gauri Desai bettered the record in the girls, Group III 100M breaststroke event.

The other gold medallist in swimming for Karnataka was Prajwala S, who timed 43.61 en route to the gold in the girls Group IV, 50M breaststroke event.

Karnataka’s Ohileshwari M K (girls Group III, 50M butterfly) and Bhoomi R Motwani (girls Group III, 100M breaststroke) won silver, while Harshith M R (boys Group III, 100M breaststroke) won the second bronze for Karnataka.

Results:
Swimming: Boys: Group III: 200M freestyle: Yudishtir Jai Singh (Mah, 2:15.58) 1; Sachin Kumar Mauyra (UP, 2:16.8) 2; Prajwal K S (Kar, 2:21.44). NR -- Old record: 2:17.44 (Saurabh, Mah, 2006).

50M butterfly: Dilip Yadav (UP, 0:31.47) 1; Subhadeep Das (Bengal, 0:31.69) 2; Ranit Dey (WB, 0:32.24) 3.

100M breaststroke: Yogesh Kumar Sharma (UP, 1:21.90) 1; Saravyan R (Kerala, 1:22.72) 2; Harshith R (Kar, 1:25.95) 3.

Group IV: 50M butterfly: Supriyo Mondal (WB, 0:33.52) 1; Sagar Kumar (Assam, 0:33.94) 2; Karan Jain Singh (Mah, 0:34.13) 3.

50M breaststroke: Sagar Kumar (Assam, 0:40.62) 1; Shreyas Virgaonkar (Mah, 0:42.40) 2; Yogeshwar Prasad (UP, 0:43.41) 3. NR — Old record: 40.66 (Arjun E, Manipur, 2003).

Girls: Group III: 200M freestyle: Prathima Kollali (Kar, 2:20.80) 1; Kanchi Desai (Mah, 2:24.97) 2; Rujuta Bhat (Mah, 2:27.41) 3. NR — Old record: 2:23.81 (Surabhi Tipre, Mah, 2005).

50M butterfly: Vandita Dhariyal (Guj, 0:33.31) 1; Ohileshwari M K (Kar, 0:33.59) 2; Chandrim Nandy (WB, 0: 33.88) 3.

100M breaststroke: Gauri Desai (Mah, 1:25.25) 1; Bhoomi R Motwani (Kar, 1:27.00) 2; Risha Singha (WB, 1:28.76) 3. NR — Old record: 1:25.43 (Purva Shetye, Mah, 2005).

Group IV: 50M butterfly: Pranjali Davda (Mah, 0:36.16) 1; Avantika Chavan (Mah, 0:36.28) 2; Mugdha Mallareddy (TN, 0:37.31) 3.

50M breaststroke: Prajwala S (Kar, 0:43.61) 1; Swara Kulkarni (Mah, 0:44.57) 2; Jisha Kumar U (Kerala, 0:45.00) 3.

Diving: Boys: Group I: Highboard: Krishna M Naik (SSCB, 361.10 points) 1; Naveenkumar Pandey (UP, 308.80) 2; Rahul Soman (Goa, 307.65) 3.

Group III: Highboard: Sativtha Nandan (WB, 224.15) 1; Vinay Yadav (Haryana, 184.15) 2; Abhishek Tiwari (UP, 176.80) 3.

Girls: Group I: Highboard: Hrvtika Shriram (Mah, 314.05) 1; Rupali Shinde (Mah, 269.75) 2; Sushmeeta Vasta (Goa, 255.50) 3.

Group III: Highboard: Swati Vidup (Mah, 213.80) 1; N Divya Theja (Kar, 192.20) 2; Radhika Apte (MP, 112.90). NR -- Old record: 199.20 (N Divya Theja, Kar, 2006).