And at the end of the two lap race, the Karnataka lass emerged out of the pool with a National record on the third day of the 63rd Senior National Aquatics championship here.
On a hot and humid Wednesday at the LNCPE pool, young Arhatha stunned her senior rival with a superb performance to obliterate the national mark. Arhatha, who was beaten by Richa in the 200M freestyle on Monday, fully utilised her second chance as the 15-year-old squeezed past her rivals to complete the race in 1:03.24.
“I was pretty tensed before the event as Richa is an experienced swimmer. I lost to her in the 200 freestyle so today I decided to go all out. I was confident if I swam to my potential I could beat her. I was aiming to do the first lap in 29 seconds so that I could break the record. I am extremely happy to break the national record,” said Arhatha, who had rewritten 200 fly championship record on Tuesday.
Arhatha shaved off more than a second from the previous record which Richa set two-years back at the Asian Age Group in Jakarta. Richa timed 1:04.53 to go under the meet mark of 1:04.81 for the silver.
From lane number four, Arhatha held a narrow lead from Richa in lane five. She touched the 50-metre mark at 30 seconds and after the turn the Bangalorean turned the tide in her favour with a burst of speed. However, Richa, who has five consecutive best swimmer awards under her belt, challenged Arhatha with all her might. However, a technically correct Arhatha powered to victory as Richa struggled to cope with her pace.
Rehan Poncha and Aaron D’Souza and two 4X100 men’s and women’s relay teams made it a memorable day for Karnataka.
Poncha set his second meet record, clocking 4:30.13 in the 400 individual medley, missing the National record of 4:29.89 standing in his name by a whisker. “I missed the national mark narrowly. I virtually won the race after the butterfly laps. I am getting better now,” said Poncha.
Aaron D’Souza erased the championship mark in the 100M freestyle. Aaron clocked 51.43 to eclipse his own old mark of 51.93 set in Hyderabad.
Karnataka (10 gold, 6 silver, 4 bronze) lead the table with 161 points while Maharashtra are placed second on 93.
In waterpolo, Karnataka eves outclassed Manipur 5-0 to enter the semifinals. Varshini Gubbi scored three goals and Malvika Gubbi netted two for the winners. They will meet Kerala in the final league match on Thursday.
DH News Service
Results: Men: 100M freestyle: Aaron D’Souza (Kar) 51.43, (New Meet Record. Old: 51.93 Aaron, 2008), 1; Ashwin Menon (Kar) 53.58, 2; K Mani (RSPB) 54.63, 3.
400M individual medley: Rehan Poncha (Kar) 4:30.13, (NMR. Old: 4:33.59 Poncha, 2007), 1; Merwyn Chen (RSPB) 4:49.58, 2; Mandar A Divase (Pol) 4:51.52, 3.
4X200M freestyle relay: Karnataka (Rohit R Havaldar, Ashwin Menon, Rehan Poncha, Aaron D’Souza) 8:13.94, 1; Police (Arjun Muralidharan, CH Vinay Krishna, Guno Singh, Mandar A Divase) 8:19.52, 2; RSPB (SSP Nayar, Praveen Tokas, G Mohan, K Mani) 8:27.15, 3.
Women: 800M freestyle: Kanchi Desai (Mah) 9:41.21, 1; Sushaka Pratap (Kar) 9:47.99, 2; Aditi M (Mah) 9:50.12, 3.
100M butteryflystroke: Arhatha Magavi (Kar) 1:03.24 (National record. Old: 1:04.45 Richa Mishra, Police, 2007, NMR. Old: 1:04.81 Mishra, 2003), 1; Richa Mishra (Pol) 1:04.52, 2; Vandita Dhariyal (Guj) 1:05.13, 3.
4X200M freestyle relay: Karnataka (Shubha C, Pooja R Alva, Sneha T, Arhatha Magavi) 9:09.68, 1; Maharashtra (Arti G, Lekha K, Aditi M, Kanchi D) 9:30.81, 2; Tamil Nadu (VK Meenakshi, M Raghavi, Sushmeeta, Anusha M) 9:41.97, 3.
Waterpolo: Men: Maharahtra: 7 bt Bengal: 1.
Women: Karnataka: 5 (Varshini Gubbi 3, Malvika Gubbi 2) bt Manipur: 0; Police: 6 bt Bengal: 1; Kerala: 15 bt Delhi: 0. Diving: Women: 3M spring board: Hruthika S Sriram (RSPB) 185.85 points, 1; Karishma M Mohite (Kar) 168.70, 2; Sushmita V (Goa) 163.80, 3.
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