Karnataka swimmers obliterate relay mark

Group I boys, girls set 4x200M Natl records

The Group I boys’ quartet of Akash Rohit, Akhilesh Ram, Ajay A and Saurabh Sangvekar posted eight minutes 13.58 seconds, slicing almost seven seconds from the previous record of 8:20.90 created by Maharashtra in 2007.

In the corresponding girls’ section, Arhatha Magavi, Sneha T, Divya Guruswamy and Pratima Kollali combined to clock 9:12.70 for the gold.

The State lasses erased the previous mark of 9:23.29 set by Maharashtra in 2008. But Karnataka swimmers could only land two individual titles on Sunday, earned by Pranam and Arvind M, which helped Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu trim their lead.

The defending champions now have 327 points (15 gold, 12 silver and 15 bronze) with Tamil Nadu (270 points, 12 gold, 13 silver, 10 bronze) and Maharashtra (259 points, 14 gold, 8 silver and 8 bronze) closely following the holders after the third day of the championship.

Pranam, who pocketed the Group I boys’ 100 backstroke gold on Friday, powered home in 28.93 in the 50 backstroke for the double. Earlier, Arvind touched the tape in 4:50.01 for the Group I boys’ 400 individual medley crown.

Arvind, who trailed Rahul Choksi of Gujarat in the butterfly segment, turned the tide in his favour in the backstroke segment before stretching the lead in the breaststroke and freestyle segments to canter home. Two more National records were broken on the third day with Aakanksha Vora of Maharashtra (Group II girls’ 800M freestyle) and the

Maharashtra 4x200M Group II girls’ relay team going under the existing marks. In water polo competition, Karnataka boys suffered a 1-10 defeat at the hands of Maharashtra.

Results: Boys: Group I: 100M freestyle: Jaywant Vijay Kumar (TN) 54.20, 1 seconds; Neil Contractor (Guj) 54.63, 2; Ajay A (Kar) 55.66, 3.
50M backstroke: Pranam B (Kar) 28.93, 1; V Turbu (Ker) 29.22, 2; Rohit Imoliya (MP) 29.79, 3. 400M individual medley: Arvind M (Kar) 4:50.01, 1; R Chokshi (Guj) 4:56.59, 2; A Ram (Kar) 4:58.71, 3.
4x200M freestyle relay: Karnataka (Akash Rohit, A Ram, Ajay A, Saurabh Sangvekar) 8:13.58, 1. National Record (Old: 8:20.90, Kar, 2007); Tamil Nadu (Larsen, Sathish, Sandeep, Jaywant) 8:38.53, 2; Uttar Pradesh (Umesh, Rameshwar, Ravi, Sachin) 8:40.17, 3.
Group II: 100M freestyle: SK Adarsh Narayan (TN) 57.57, 1; Deshdeep Ghai (Pun) 57.73, 2; Rohitash Dubey (MP) 58.45, 3. 50M backstroke: Himanshu Dhakad (MP) 30.01, 1; R Vishak (TN) 30.28, 2; Akash Debnath (WB) 31.43, 3. 400 individual medley: Jason Smith (Mah) 5:04.40, 1; T Sethu Manickavel (TN) 5:04.43, 2; Pushpananad H (Kar) 5:05.45, 3.
4x200M freestyle relay: Tamil Nadu (Keerthan, Sriniram, Arun, Adarsh) 8:53.15, 1; Maharashtra (Sudhanshu, Neel Deshmukh, Jason, Vedant) 8:53.82, 2; Karnataka (Suhas Y, Gautham R, Sharath R, Md Yaqoob Saleem) 9:08.19, 3.
Girls: Group I: 1500M freestyle: Anusha Mehta (TN) 19:00.62, 1 seconds; Sri Lakshmi Gorur (Kar) 19:03.55, 2; Shinjini Sahay (Mah) 19:14.97, 3. 50M backstroke: Jyotsna Pansare (Mah) 32.25, 1; VKR Meenakshi (TN) 32.81, 2; Aarsi Poddar (WB) 33.19, 3.  100M butterfly: Jyotsna Pansare (Mah) 1:05.39, 1; Arhatha Magavi (Kar) 1:07.08, 2; Ananya Panigrahi (Mah) 1:07.61, 3. 4x200M freestyle relay: Karnataka (Arhatha Magavi, Sneha T, Divya Guruswamy, Pratima Kollali) 9:12.70, 1. NR (Old: 9:23.29, Maharashtra, 2008); Tamil Nadu (R Sushmitha, Meenakshi, Dharshini, Anusha) 9:20.88. BMR, 2; Maharashtra (Shinjini, Asawari, Ananya, Kanchi) 9:47.34, 3.
Group II: 800M freestyle: Aakanksha Vora (Mah) 9:35.64. NR (Old: 9:42.16, Surabhi Tipre, Maharashtra, 2007) 1; Ashritha N Bharadwaj (Kar) 9:58.45, 2; Malavika V (Kar) 10;06.68, 3. 50M backstroke: Sherlyn Meghana Devadason (TN) 32.68, 1; Avantika Chavan (Mah) 33.17, 2; Rhea C (AP) 34.05, 3.100M butterfly: Sherlyn M Devadason (TN) 1:08.25, 1; Mugdha M (TN) 1:10.51, 2; Kritika C (Chg) 1:11.29, 3.
4x200M freestyle relay: Maharashtra (Avantika, Antara, Monique, Aakanksha) 9:21.27, 1. NR (Old: 9:27.40, Maharashtra, 2010); Karnataka (Ashritha N Bharadwaj, Abhijna A, Siya M, Malavika V) 9:29.39, 2; Tamil Nadu (AV Jayaveena, Samyukta, Sitara, Sherlyn) 9:37.26, 3.
Waterpolo: Boys: Maharashtra: 10 (Yogesh K 3, Ashwini K 2, Uday U 2, Nikhil S 1, Bhavesh M 1; Aditya D 1) bt Karnataka: 1 (Vishal A 1); Punjab bt Manipur 11-1; Bengal bt Kerala 8-2; Delhi bt MP 6-3.
Girls: Maharashtra bt Bengal 10-0; Kerala bt Delhi 10-1.