JOIN USAt several stages in the men’s 800M freestyle, Saurabh Sangvekar had to endure tough challenge from Olympian Gagan AP but the teenager managed to find enough energy to defend his title on a rain-hit opening day at the Senior National Aquatic Championships here on Monday.
Under perfect morning conditions for swimming, Sangvekar posted eight minutes 21.28 seconds to touch the pad first ahead of team-mate Gagan, who claimed silver in 8:23.86, at the Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex. “I did my best but could have done a better timing. But my pet event is 1500 and I am looking forward to that,” pointed out Saurabh, who was way behind his personal best of 8:12.57 timed last year in Ranchi.
The day also belonged to Richa Mishra who shattered the women’s 200M backstroke National record, clocking 2:24.22. The Delhiite rewrote her own mark of 2:26.41 set three years ago at the Asian Age Group meet in Tokyo.
Rohit R Havaldar earned Karnataka’s second gold with a convincing victory in the men’s 200M backstroke, clocking 2:11.06, under overcast conditions in the evening. Soon after that, heavy rains played spoilsport as two events, the men’s 50M butterfly and women’s 4x100M medley relay had to be postponed to Tuesday. Tipped as the favourite, Saurabh lived up to his billing to brush aside the challenge of his senior-mate Gagan in the 16-lap race. Saurabh took a narrow lead from lane number five with Gagan, in lane four, and Police’s Mandar A Divase, in lane 2, closely followed the 18-year-old. After the 200-metre turn, Mandar faded away. Saurabh and Gagan, the duo who trains under Pradeep Kumar at the Basavanagudi Aquatic Centre, went neck and neck with former touching the 400M at 4:05.63, a narrow 1.13 seconds in front.
Gradually, Saurabh increased the lead and with 200 metres left he gained a bodylength margin. And as it seemed, Saurabh would run away with the crown, Gagan shifted gears to close in the gap. However, Saurabh held on to bag the title. Two meet records were also broken on Monday. Sandeep Sejwal (men’s 200M breaststroke, 2:15.77) and RSPB men’s 4x100M medley relay team (3:54.76) went under the existing marks. Karnataka claimed two gold, one silver and two bronze while hosts Maharashtra put up a strong display to pocket two gold, one silver and a bronze on the first day. In the water polo competition, Karnataka eves routed Police 4-1 while the State men went down to Punjab 0-4.
Results: Men: 800M: Saurabh Sangvekar (Kar) 8:21.28,1; Gagan AP (Kar) 8:23.86, 2; Mandar A Divase (Pol) 8:40.37, 3. 200M backstroke: Rohit R Havaldar (Kar) 2:11.06, 1; Rohit Imoliya (MP) 2:13.19, 2; Pranam B (Kar) 2:14.56, 3. 200M breaststroke: Sandeep Sejwal (RSPB) 2:15.77. New Meet Record (Old: 2:16.37, Sandeep Sejwal, RSPB, 2011) 1; Puneet Rana (Pol) 2:23.94, 2; Anoop Augustine (RSPB) 2:26.30, 3. 4x100M medley relay: RSPB (Turbu V, Sandeep Sejwal, Sajan Prakash, Sarma SP Nair) 3:54.76, NMR (Old: Exist. 3:56.06, RSPB, 2011) 1; Tamil Nadu (MB Balakrishnan, J Agnishwar, N Arvind, Jaywant Vijay Kumar) 3:57.31, 2; Karnataka (Rohit R Havaldar, Likith SP, Rakshith U Shetty, Aaron D' Souza) 3:58.08, 3. Women: 200M backstroke: Richa Mishra (Pol) 2:24.22. National Record (Old: 2:26.41, Richa Mishra, Police, 2009 Asian Age Group; NMR, Old: 2:26.66, Shikha Tandon, Karnataka, 2005) 1; Arti Ghorpade (Mah) 2:24.39. BMR, 2; Ananya Panigrahi (Mah) 2:30.86, 3. 200M breaststroke: Poorva Shetye (Mah) 2:49.37, 1; AV Jayaveena (TN) 2:49.79, 2; M Raghavi (TN) 2:52.11, 3. 50M butterfly: Jyotsna Pansare (Mah) 29.31 seconds, 1; Shivani Kataria (Har) 29.97, and Talasha Prabhu (Goa) 29.97 2. Diving: Men: Highboard: C H Puskar Meitei (SSCB) 350.30 points, 1; Tushar Gitaye (RSPB) 342.15, 2; Hemam England Singh (SSCB) 322.25, 3. Women: Highboard: Deepti Panwar (RSPB) 224.85, 1; Jagruti Satarkar (Mah) 207.80, 2; Swati Vidap (Mah) 198.20, 3. Water polo: Men: Punjab bt Karnataka 4-0; Kerala bt Delhi 9-0; Bengal bt Manipur 10-0; Maharashtra bt Police 8-5. Women: Karnataka: 4 (Malavika Gubbi 2, Varshini Gubbi 2) bt Police: 1 (Purnima Pal 1); Bengal bt Delhi 13-0; Manipur bt Maharashtra 16-0.