Aaron clinches 200M freestyle gold

Poncha breaks State record in 400M IM and 100M backstroke

Most of the swimmers competing here will be aiming to touch top form before the Asian Age Group championship, which begins on October 5 in Palembang and is an Olympic qualifying event.

Aaron D’Souza in the 200M freestyle was the lone swimmer to smash a mark in the individual events, with the Basavanagudi Aquatic Centre ‘A’ teams accounting for the other two in the 4x100M and 4x200M freestyle relay.

The BAC ‘A’ team relay quartet of Gagan AP, Saurabh Sangvekar, Rehan Poncha and Aaron D’Souza timed seven minutes 59.98 seconds for the title, going under the national mark of 8:02.56 set by the Karnataka team in 2010.

Later in the evening, in the 4x100 freestyle relay final, the same quartet touched home in 3:37.35 for another gold. The time was better than the national record of 3:37.63, also in the name of State swimmers.

The 19-year-old Aaron clocked 1:52.87 seconds for the gold. In the process, Aaron erased his own two-year-old State record of 1:54.84. The National record of 1:53.36 also stands in Aaron’s name, set in 2009. A dominant Aaron showed he is capable of booking a slot for London with the teenager clocking a timing closer to the Olympics ‘B’ Standard of 1:51.59.

Four State records were also rewritten on the first day, with Gagan AP (BAC, 800M freestyle, 8:26.03), Rehan Poncha (BAC, 100M backstroke, 59.80 and 400M individual medley, 4:39.68) and Surabhi Tipre (BAC, 800M freestyle:, 9:26.30) doing the job in style.

Results:
Men: 200M freestyle: Aaron D’Souza (BAC) 1:52.87, 1. NMR (Old: 1:54.84, Aaron D’Souza, BAC, 2009) and Bettered National Record (Old: 1:53.36, Aaron D’Souza, Karnataka, 2009); Saurabh Sangvekar (BAC) 1:55.69, 2; Rohith R Havaldar (DA) 1:56.41, 3.
800M freestyle: Gagan AP (BAC) 8:26.03, 1. New Meet Record (Old: 8:40.29, Rohit R Havaldar, BAC, 2006); Saurabh Sangvekar (BAC) 8:29.03, 2. BMR; Ajay A (BAC) 9:07.00, 3. 100M backstroke: Rehan Poncha (BAC) 59.80. NMR, 1 (Old: 59.85; Rohit R Havaldar, BAC, 2009); Rohit R Havaldar (DA) 1:00.03, 2; Ashwin Menon (DA) 1:00.96, 3.  100M breaststroke: Aditya Roshan (Dolphin Aquatics) 1:10.10, 1; Likith SP (BAC) 1:10.55, 2; Akash Rohit (DA) 1:12.84, 3. 400M individual medley: Rehan Poncha (BAC) 4:39.68, 1. NMR (Old: Rehan Poncha, BAC, 2006); Gagan AP (BAC) 4:41.22, 2; Arvind M (BAC) 5:01.11, 3.
4x200M freestyle relay: BAC ‘A’ (Gagan AP, Saurabh Sangvekar, Rehan Poncha, Aaron D’Souza) 7:59.98, 1. NMR (Old State Record: 8:23.48, BAC ‘A’, 2005) and Bettered National Record (Old: 8:02.56, Karnataka, 2010); Dolphin Aquatics (Ashwin Menon, Aditya Roshan, Akash Rohit, Rohit R Havaldar) 8:23.03, 2. BMR; BAC ‘B’ (Rakshith U Shetty, Prajwal KS, Mitesh Kunte, Ajay A) 8:24.47, 3. 4x100M freestyle relay: BAC ‘A’ 3:37.35, 1. NMR (Old: 3:45.68, BAC ‘B’, 2008) and Bettered National Record (Old: 3:37.63, Karnataka, 2009); Dolphina Aquatics (3:44.79). BMR, 2; BAC ‘B’ (3:50.90) 3.
Women: 200M freestyle: Surabhi Tipre (BAC) 2:10.98, 1; Kshipra Mahajan (BAC) 2:14.83, 2; Sneha T (BAC) 2:15.64, 3. 800M freestyle: Surabhi Tipre (BAC) 9:26.30, 1. NMR (Old: Shikha Tandon, KCR, 2004); Sushaka Pratap (BAC) 9:58.74, 1; Ashritha N Bharadwaj (PMSC) 10:05.54, 3. 100M backstroke: Kshipra Mahajan (BAC) 1:12.45, 1; Meghana Srivatsa (BAC) 1:13.10, 2; Fariha Zaman (BAC) 1:13.35, 3.
400M individual medley: Pooja R Alva (BAC) 5:26.71, 1; Bhoomi R Motwani (BAC) 5:33.39, 2; Sushaka Pratap (BAC) 5:43.51, 3. 100M breaststroke: Bhoomi R Motwani (BAC) 1:22.89, 1; Charu Hamsini DA (BAC) 1:25.64, 2; Minal B Shivaprakash (PMSC) 1:31.96, 3.
4x100M freestyle relay: BAC ‘A’ (Pooja R Alva, Kshipra Mahajan, Sneha T, Surabhi Tipre) 4:32.91, 1; BAC ‘B’ (Sharanya DA, Damini K Gowda, Sushaka Pratap, Malavika V) 4:50.02, 2.  4x200M freestyle relay: BAC ‘A’ (Kshipra Mahajan, Pooja R Alva, Sushaka Pratap, Surabhi Tipre) 9:42.99, 1; BAC ‘B’ (Bhoomi R Motwani, Tulasi R Haritsa, Malavika V, Meghana Srivatsa) 9:52.03.
 At Jayanagar Swimming Pool: Diving:
Men: Highboard: J Kumar (DAC) 222.85 points, 1; Ankit Dutta (MEG & Centre) 51.60, 2. 3M springboard: Ankit Dutta (MEG) 209.55, 1; M Robi Singh (MEG) 194.10, 2. Women: 3M springboard: Karishma M Mohite (YCSC) 162.30, 1; Asha J (DAC) 158.15, 2; Shalini Thulasi  (DAC) 130.80, 3.