Aaron, Saurabh strike gold

Karnataka swimmers Aaron D' Souza and Saurabh Sangvekar sparkled with gold medals on the opening day of the Federation Cup swimming championships at the GMC Balayogi Stadium in Gachibowli on Friday.

Aaron timed two minutes 03.65 seconds to bag the men’s 200M butterfly title, finishing ahead of team-mate Rehan Poncha, who clocked 2:05.59. Saurabh posted 4:01.75 to clinch the 400M freestyle crown.

Rohit R Havaldar (200M backstroke, 2:10.71) and Surabhi Tipre (100M freestyle, 59.90) were the other gold medal winners for Karnataka on the first day.

Results: Men: 100M freestyle: Virdhawal Khade (Maharashtra) 51.96 seconds, 1; Anshul Kothari (Gujarat) 53.46, 2; Neil Contractor (Gujarat) 53.87, 3.

400M freestyle: Saurabh Sangvekar (Karnataka) 4:01.75, 1; Sujay Shah (Gujarat) 4:11.75, 2; Merwyn Chen (Delhi) 4:20.84, 3.

200M backstroke: Rohit R Havaldar (Karnataka) 2:10.71, 1; Sujay Shah (Gujarat) 2:23.48, 2; Ravi Kumar (Uttar Pradesh) 2:26.39, 3.

200M butterflystroke: Aaron D' Souza (Karnataka) 2:03.65, 1; Rehan Poncha (Karnataka) 2:05.59, 2; Sajan Prakash (Tamil Nadu) 2:06.12, 3.

Women: 100M freestyle: Surabhi Tipre (Karnataka) 59.90 seconds, 1; Jyotsna Pansare (Maharashtra) 1:00.36, 2; Vandita Dhariyal (Gujarat) 1:02.10, 3.

400M freestyle: Richa Mishra (Police) 4:35.18, 1; Vandita Dhariyal (Gujarat) 4:56.66, 2; U Sreshta (Andhra Pradesh) 6:22.98, 3.

200M backstroke: Gitanjali Pandey (Gujarat) 2:45.36, 1; N Shreya (Andhra Pradesh) 3:19.77, 2; P Simran (Andhra Pradesh) 3:20.35, 3.

200M butterfly: Vandita Dhariyal (Gujarat) 2:26:21, 1; Amita Gondi (AP) 3:17:21, 2; M Kavya Shreya (AP) 4:07.90, 3.