Dominating BAC take overall title

Aquatics Senior State Championships: Aaron, Surabhi named best swimmers

Using their familiarity with the conditions, the hosts garnered 681 points to emerge champions in the three-day meet. BAC’s Aaron D’Souza took home the men’s best swimmer award while team-mate Surabhi Tipre was adjudged the best in the women’s section.

Aaron claimed the 100M and 200M freestyle, the latter in a national record-bettering time, and the 100M butterfly titles and clinched silver medals in the 200M butterfly and 50 backstroke. Freestyle specialist Surabhi won five gold medals — 100, 200, 400, 800 and 1500 metres. The 18-year-old went under the national mark in the challenging 1500M and created new State marks in the 400 and 800 metres.

On the final day, two State records were broken, by Rohit R Havaldar and Surabhi.
Rohit clocked two minutes 07.66 seconds for the 200 backstroke gold and missed the national record of 2:07.52 by a whisker. The Dolphin Aquatics swimmer, however, lowered his own State record of 2:09.58 set two years ago. Rohit, who led from start to finish, had to ward off a strong challenge from National record holder Rehan Poncha, who took silver in 2:09.17.

Surabhi powered to victory in the 400M freestyle, posting 4:36.04. She sliced more than seven seconds off the previous mark of 4:44.71 set by club-mate Pooja R Alva in 2009.
The BAC ‘A’ men’s quartet concluded the meet in superb fashion, cruising to victory in the 4x100M medley relay clocking 4:11.70. After Poncha’s blistering backstroke segment in which he posted a time of 1:01.01, breaststroker Likith SP (progressive 2:12.03), Aaron (3:12.39) in the butterfly and freestyler Gagan AP helped the team to a comfortable win.

Results:
Men: 100M freestyle: Aaron D’Souza (BAC) 51.83S, 1; Ashwin Menon (Dolphin Aquatics) 53.94, 2; Rohit R Havaldar (DA) 54.10, 3.
400M freestyle: Gagan AP (BAC) 4:03.86, 1; Saurabh Sangvekar (BAC) 4:08.94, 2; Ajay A (BAC) 4:22.82, 3.
50M backstroke: Rohit R Havaldar (DA) 28.52S, 1; Aaron D’ Souza (BAC) 28.62, 2; Sandeep NA (BAC) 28.70, 3.
200M butterfly: Rehan Poncha (BAC) 2:06.75, 1; Aaron D’Souza (BAC) 2:06.85, 2; Mitesh M Kunte (BAC) 2:17.61, 3.
200M backstroke: Rohit R Havaldar (DA) 2:07.66. New Meet Record (Old: 2:09.58, Rohit R Havaldar, BAC, 2009); Rehan Poncha (BAC) 2:09.17, 2; Pranam B (BAC) 2:18.45, 3.
4x100M medley relay: BAC ‘A’ (Rehan Poncha, Likith SP, Aaron D’Souza, Gagan AP) 4:11.70, 1; BAC ‘B’ (Pranam B, Arvind M, Saurabh Sagvekar, Ajay A) 4:17.35, 2.

Women: 100M freestyle: Surabhi Tipre (BAC) 1:00.55, 1; Kshipra Mahajan (BAC) 1:01.20, 2; Sneha T (BAC) 1:02.37, 3.
400M freestyle: Surabhi Tipre (BAC) 4:36.04. NMR (Old: 4:44.71, Pooja R Alva, 2009); Kshipra Mahajan (BAC) 4:48.29, 2; Pratima Kollali (DA) 4:49.49, 3.
50M backstroke: Fariha Zaman (BAC) 33.89S, 1; Meghana Srivatsa (BAC) 35.08, 2; Damini K Gowda (BAC) 35.38, 3.
200M backstroke: Meghana Srivatsa (BAC) 2:38.72, 1; Sharanya V (BAC) 2:48.10, 2; Tulasi R Haritsa (BAC) 2:51.35, 3.
200M butterfly: Pooja R Alva (BAC) 2:35.50, 1; Simran DM (BAC) 2:39.52, 2.
4x100M medley relay: BAC ‘B’ (Sharanya V, Charu Hamsini, Srika K Raju, Malavika V) 5:07.22, 1; BAC ‘A’ (Meghana Srivatsa, Keerthana, Damini K Gowda, Tulasi R Haritsa) 5:10.99, 2.

Special awards:

Overall champions: Basavanagudi Aquatic Centre (681 points).
Best swimmer: Men: Aaron D’Souza (BAC, 581 pts). Women: Surabhi Tipre (BAC, 685 pts).
Best diver: Men: Ankit Dutta (Dazzle Aquatic Club, 17 pts). Women: Karishma M Mohite (YCSC, 14 pts).