Favourites Basavanagudi Aquatic Centre extended their 24-year domination of the State Aquatic Championship, retaining the overall title in overwhelming fashion here on Wednesday.
Backed by a strong show from several national champions, BAC tallied a superb 448 points to wear the crown yet again at their own premises.
Fast-improving Arvind M, who pocketed five individual golds to totally dominate the meet, emerged as the best male swimmer while his fellow BAC lass Damini K Gowda, who set the lone record of the meet, walked away with best female swimmer award.
Damini, having won two gold and a silver on Tuesday, seemed primed for another victory but was forced to miss out of the final day’s action due to a bout a flu. The teenager has sought the permission from the Karnataka Swimming Association and will now get her trials for the 50M butterfly done next week.
Arvind, appearing fresh and ready to lead Karnataka’s charge in next month’s National Championship, dished out another dominating performance in the 50M backstroke event. He dashed off the blocks and maintained the pace throughout the sprint, touching the pad in 28.54 seconds.
Dolphin swimmers Ashwin Menon and Siya Manjeshwar clinched surprise victories in the 100M freestyle events. Ashwin romped to victory in the 53.52 seconds, beating Rakshith U Shetty (55.33) and Md Yaqoob Saleem (55.64).
Siya, perhaps, produced the shock of the event. In Lane 7 and facing stiff competition from favourite Malavika V and Sneha T, the teenager swam a fine race, clocking 1:01.60 for a fine victory. Nettakallappa Aquatic Centre’s Malavika finished second at 1:02.57 and Sneha took third place with a timing of 1:02.67.
DH News Service
Result: Men: 100M freestyle: Ashwin Menon (Dolphin’s) 53.52 seconds, 1; Rakshith U Shetty (BAC) 55.33, 2; Md Yaqoob Saleem (PMSC) 55.64, 3. 400M freestyle: Saurabh R Sangvekar (BAC) 4:12.82, 1; Mitesh M Kunte (BAC) 4:13.92, 2; Md Yaqoob Saleem (PMSC) 4:14.18, 3. 50M backstroke: Arvind M (BAC) 28.54, 1; Pranam B (BAC) 28.75, 2; Ashwin Menon (Dolphin’s) 29.07, 3. 50M butterfly: Rakshit U Shetty (BAC) 26.80, 1; Prithvi M (NAC) 27.51, 2; Vishwesh Dudham (BAC) 27.86, 3. 200M butterfly: Mitesh M Kunte (BAC) 2:14.85, 1; Avinash M (BAC) 2:18.40, 2; Sanjeev R (PMSC) 2:18.67, 3. 4x100M medley: BAC ‘A’ (4:07.83) 1; Dolphin’s (4:12.41) 2; BAC ‘B’ (4:19.20) 3.
Women: 100M freestyle: Siya Manjeshwar (Dolphin’s) 1:01.60, 1; Malavika V (NAC) 1:02.57, 2; Sneha T (BAC) 1:02.67, 3. 400M freestyle: Malavika V (NAC) 4:38.75, 1; Pratima Kollali (Dolphin’s) 4:53.88, 2; Nikitha SV (BAC) 5:06.46, 3.
50M backstroke: K Harishree J Rai (GSC) 33.45, 1; Ranjana H (BAC) 35.16, 2; Vaania Kapoor A (BAC) 35.57, 3. 50M butterfly: Pooja R Alva (BAC) 30.53, 1; Siya Manjeshwar (Dolphin’s) 31.43, 2; Sneha T (BAC) 31.78, 3. 200M butterfly: Pooja R Alva (BAC) 2:30.19, 1; Simron Deepak M (BAC) 2:33.77, 2; Nikitha SV (BAC) 2:48.26, 3.
4x100M medley: BAC ‘A’ (4:53.47) 1; BAC ‘B’ (5:04.01) 2; NAC (5:06.01) 3.
Individual awards: Best swimmer: Men: Arvind M (BAC) 35 points. Women: Damini K Gowda (BAC) 69 points, 2. Diving: G Vaibhav (DAC) and Abhijeet Gaonkar 12 points. Water polo: Men: BAC, 1; NAC, 2.
Women: BAC 1; PM Swim Centre 2.
Overall championship: BAC (448 points).
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