JOIN USArvind, Damini spur Karnataka
Arvind M and Damini K Gowda led defending champions Karnataka’s gold rush while new kid on the block Maana Patel dished out another fine performance on the third day of the 40th Junior National Aquatic Championship here on Friday.
Basavanagudi Aquatic Centre trainees Arvind and Damini, who have already pocketed an individual gold each, added another one apiece to their kitty as powerhouse Karnataka returned with a day’s haul of six gold and five silver at the Gachibowli Stadium.
Part of the State team that secured the Group I boys’ 4x200M freestyle gold earlier in the day, Arvind was confident of another triumph in the 400M individual medley and the 17-year-old delivered in telling fashion, setting a new national record.
In the lead from the start, the Vijaya Composite College student swam a superb race, extending his lead convincingly over each leg to eventually touch the pad in a time of 4:41.60 and obliterate his hero Rehan Poncha’s 2003 mark of 4:42.57. T Sethu Manickavel of Tamil Nadu finished a distant second at 4.51.78 while Jason Smith of Maharashtra won the bronze after clocking 4:54.05.
Damini too produced a commanding performance in the girls’ Group II 100M butterfly, sweeping aside a fairly decent field. She burst through the opening 50M, opening up an arm’s-length lead before romping home in 1:07.27 for her second gold of the day following the 4x200M freestyle relay victory.
Maharashtra’s Yuga Birnale (1:10.03) won the silver and State-mate Trisha Karkhanis (1:10.15) bagged the bronze.
Karnataka dominated the relays, winning three gold (Boys’ Group I and II 4x200M freestyle and Girls’ Group II 4x200M freestyle) and a silver (Girls Group I 4x200M freestyle).
A surprise winner for Karnataka was Spandan Pratik Rath, who shocked everyone by clinching the gold in the boys’ Group II 100M freestyle. Trailing after the opening 50, the BAC ward produced a fantastic late surge to win in 50.09 seconds as favourite Saumya Vora (59.19) of Maharashtra settled for silver.
Maana bagged her third individual gold of the meet with another spectacular show. The 13-year-old Gujarati nailed the 50M backstroke gold with an Indian best timing of 30.74 seconds, erasing Fariha Zaman’s time of 31.21 set in 2009. This is the second India Best timing the teenager has achieved.
Maana’s 17-year-old State-mate Neil Contractor completed a sprint double, winning a hard-fought 100M freestyle race.
Results: Boys: Group I: 100M freestyle: Neil Contractor (Gujarat) 54.63 seconds, 1; Rakshith U Shetty (Karnataka) 54.83, 2; P Larsen (Tamil Nadu) 54.87, 3.
50M backstroke: Rohit Imoliya (Madhya Pradesh) 28.00 (NR; Old: 28.02, Sandeep NA, Karnataka, 2007) 1; Pranam B (Karnataka) 28.12, 2; K Mugunthan (Tamil Nadu) 28.52, 3.
400M individual medley: Arvind M (Karnataka) 4:41.60 (NR; Old: 4:42.57, Rehan Poncha, Karnataka, 2003) 1; T Sethu Manickavel (Tamil Nadu) 4:51.78, 2; Jason Smith (Maharashtra) 4:54.05, 3.
4x200M freestyle relay: Karnataka (Mohammed Yaqooib Saleem, Pranam B, Arvind M, Mitesh Manoj Kunte) 8:13.55, 1; Tamil Nadu (JT Yugeshkumar, SV Arun Thaneermalai, T Sethu Manickavel, P Larsen) 8:21.44, 2; Maharashtra (Viraj Dhokale, Jason Smith, Vedant Rao, Ishaan Mehra) 8:23.58, 3
Group II: 100M freestyle: Spandan Pratik Rath (Karnataka) 59.09, 1; Saumya Vora (Maharashtra) 59.19, 2; M Harishraj (Tamil Nadu) 59.35, 3.
50M backstroke: Tanish Nav Solanki (Assam) 30.41, 1; Akshansh Solanki (Delhi) 31.56, 2; Saumya Vora (Maharashtra) 31.72, 3. 400M individual medley: Ishaan Jaffer (Maharashtra) 5:05.43, 1; Hemanth Jenukal B (Karnataka) 5:08.64, 2; Aryan Makhija (Maharashtra) 5:13.49, 3.
4x200M freestyle relay: Karnataka (Hemanth Jenukal VB, S Siva, Spandan Pratik Rath, Sanjeev R) 8:43.29, 1; Maharashtra (Saumya Vora, Sandesh Malvankar, Aryan Makhija, Ishaan Jaffer) 8:43.33, 2; Tamil Nadu (AV Sam, A Abhishek, J Seba Franklin, M Harishraj) 9:25.29, 3.
Girls: Group I: 1500M freestyle: Aakanksha Vora (Maharashtra) 17:57.89, 1; Shruthi Mahalingham (Tamil Nadu) 18:43.56, 2; Kavya Gopalakrishnan (Tamil Nadu) 19:01.06, 3.
50M backstroke: Avantika Chavan (Maharashtra) 31.73 (NR; Old: 31.90, Fariha Zaman, Assam, 2006) 1; VKR Meenakshi (Tamil Nadu) 32.23, 2; Rhea Castelino (Andhra Pradesh) 32.71, 3.
100M butterfly: VKR Meenakshi (Tamil Nadu) 1:06.59, 1; Rujuta Bhatt (Maharashtra) 1:06.64, 2; Mugdha Mallareddy (Tamil Nadu) 1:08.18, 3.
4x200M freestyle relay: Maharashtra (Aakanksha Vora, Avantika Chavan, Rujuta Bhatt, Monique Gandhi) 9:21.54, 1; Karnataka (Siya Manjeshwar, Tulasi R Haritsa, Deeksha Ramesh, Malavika V) 9:25.23, 2; Tamil Nadu (Mugdha Mallareddy, Kavya Gopalakrishnan, Sitara Niranjan, Shruthi Mahalingam) 9:39.16, 3.
Group II: 800M freestyle: PM Abishiktha (Tamil Nadu) 9:45.55, 1; Shraddha Sudhir (Karnataka) 10:02.15, 2; Aishwarya Selvakumar (Tamil Nadu) 10:12.30, 3.
50M backstroke: Maana Patel (Gujarat) 30.74 (India Best; Old: 31.22, Fariha Zaman, Assam, 2009) 1; Nivya Raja (Tamil Nadu) 33.39, 2; Yuga Birnale (Maharashtra) 33.54, 3.
100M butterfly: Damini K Gowda (Karnataka) 1:07.27, 1; Yuga Birnale (Maharashtra) 1:10.03, 2; Trisha Karkhanis (Maharashtra) 1:10.15, 3.
4x200M freestyle relay: Karnataka (Shraddha Sudhir, Chandana K, Ranjana H, Damini K Gowda) 9:26.92, 1; Tamil Nadu (Nivya Raja, Aishwarya Selvakumar, Nikita Bhaiya, PM Abishiktha) 9:33.50, 2; Maharashtra (Ayusha Bora, Proteeti Sinha, Yuga Birnale, Neha Prasad) 9:58.10, 3.
Waterpolo: Boys: Maharashtra: 9 bt Delhi: 0; West Bengal: 8 bt Andhra Pradesh: 0; Kerala: 6 bt Manipur: 0.
Girls: Kerala: 9 bt Delhi: 1; Maharashtra: 4 bt Karnataka: 0; Manipur: 2 bt Andhra Pradesh: 1.