Arvind, Maana steal limelight

Karnataka’s Arvind M stole the spotlight on the opening day of the 40th Junior National Aquatic Championship that also saw the emergence of a new force in Maana Patel.

Arvind, who will be sharing the bulk of the burden with Likith as Karnataka seek to extend their 20-year reign at the top, produced a national record-breaking performance in Group I 100M backstroke event as the champions claimed the opening day honours with seven gold at the Gachibowli Stadium.

A Basavanagudi Aquatic Centre trainee, the 17-year-old Arvind took off smoothly but trailed Rohit Imoliya of Madhya Pradesh by a split second after the opening 50M. The Karnataka teenager then caught up with Imoliya within the next 10 metres before bursting through in the final 25 metres to clinch the gold in a timing of 1:00.16.

Imoliya (1:01.13) settled for the silver while T Sethu Manickavel of Tamil Nadu (1:01.58) bagged the bronze.

While Arvind dished out a near-perfect race, his team-mate Likith S P showed his resolve, outmuscling close rival Neil Contractor of Gujarat to gallop away with the gold in the Group I 100M breaststroke.

Off to very disappointing start, Likith was nearly sixth at the 25M mark but he managed to reach the half-way stage third though at least one-metre behind Contractor.

Still trailing Contractor with about 30 metres to go, Likith, switched several gears up in an instant to outswim the Gujarati and seize the gold in a timing of 1:07.69. Contractor (1:08.84) won the silver while Raoul Rajani (1:09.22) bagged the bronze.

The other individual gold medal winners for Karnataka were Mitesh Manoj Kunte (Boys’ Group I 200M freestyle), Manav D (Boys’ Group II 100M breaststroke) and Riddhi S Bohra (Girls’ Group II 100M breaststroke). Karnataka also bagged the relay gold in boys’ Group I 4x100M freestyle and corresponding girls’ category.

The day also saw the rise of Gujarat’s 13-year-old sensation Maana in the Group II 100M backstroke. Having already erased Shikha Tandon’s national record of 1:16.95 during the morning heats with a 1:08.40, Maana went a step further.

Off the blocks in a flash, she led the field from start to finish, powering home in a blistering 1:05.67, to improve the record again.

“It feels so great,” said Maana, trying to come to terms with her achievement. “I just wanted to win a gold but never expected to set a record, let alone an Indian best,” she added after applying a superb finish to the opening day’s proceedings.


Results: Swimming: Boys: Group I: 200M freestyle: Mitesh Manoj Kunte (Karnataka) 1:59.26, 1; Mohammed Yaqooib Saleem (Karnataka) 1:59.50, 2; P Larsen (Tamil Nadu) 1:59.57, 3. 4x100M freestyle relay: Karnataka (Arvind M, Mohammed Yaqooib Saleem, Rakshith U Shetty, Mitesh Manoj Kunte) 3:43.09 (NR; Old: 3:43.85, Karnataka, 2007) 1; Maharashtra (Viraj Prabhu, Vedant Rao, Ishaan Jaffer, Viraj Dhokale) 3:44.74, 2; Tamil Nadu (P Mukundhan, T Sethu Manickavel, SV Arun Thaneermalai, P Larsen) 3:48.76, 3. 100M backstroke: Arvind M (Karnataka) 1:00.16 (NR; Old: 1:00.76, Pranam B, Karnataka, 2012) 1; Rohit Imoliya (Madhya Pradesh) 1:01.13, 2; T Sethu Manickavel (Tamil Nadu) 1:10.58, 3 100M breaststroke: Likith S P (Karnataka) 1:07.69, 1; Neil Contractor (Gujarat) 1:08.84, 2; Raoul Rajani (Maharashtra) 1:09.22.
Group II:  200M freestyle: Ishaan Jaffer (Maharashtra) 2:04.02, 1; Saumya Vora (Maharashtra) 2:05.52, 2; Hemanth Jenukal B (Karnataka) 2:06.74, 3. 4x100M freestyle relay: Maharashtra (Ishaan Jaffer, Nachiket Buzruk, Sidharth Sankhe, Saumya Vora) 3:58.49, 1; Karnataka (Spandan Pratik Rath, Manav D, Hemanth Jenukal B, Sanjeev R) 4:02.52, 2; Tamil Nadu (SG Muralidharan, AV Sam, S Abhishek, M Harishraj) 4:09.57, 3. 100M backstroke: Sahil Joshi (Maharashtra) 1:07.34, 1; S Siva (Karnataka) 1:08.00, 2; Akanksh Solanki (Delhi) 1:09.28, 3. 100M breaststroke: Manav D (Karnataka) 1:12.29, 1; Nithyaanand S (Tamil Nadu) 1:14.04, 2; Sidharth Sankhe (Maharashtra) 1:14.70, 3.
Girls: Group I: 200M freestyle: Shivani Kataria (Haryana) 2:09.19 (NR; Old: 2:09.55, Surabhi Tipre, Maharashtra, 2010) 1; Monique Gandhi (Maharashtra) 2:09.66, 2; Aakanksha Vohra (Maharashtra) 2:09.91, 3. 4x100M freestyle relay: Maharashtra (Rujuta Bhatt, Monique Gandhi, Aakanksha Vora, Avantika Chavan) 4:10.24 (NR; Old: 4:11.60, Karnataka, 2011) 1; Karnataka (Siya Manjeshwar, Tulasi R Haritsa, Deeksha Ramesh, Malavika V) 4:21.59, 2; Tamil Nadu (Mugdha Mallareddy, Shruthi Mahalingham, Sitara Niranjan, AV Jayaveena) 4:28.94, 3. 100M backstroke: Ananya Panigrahi (Maharashtra) 1:09.27, 1; Rhea Castelino (Andhra Pradesh) 1:11.09, 2; K Harishree J Rai (Karnataka) 1:11.89, 3. 100M breaststroke: Monique Gandhi (Maharashtra) 1:17.16, 1; AV Jayaveena (Tamil Nadu) 1:19.66, 2; Harleen Kaur (Punjab) 1:20.91, 3.
Group II: 200M freestyle: Gitanjali Pandey (Gujarat) 2:15.58, 1; PM Abhishiktha (Tamil Nadu) 2:18.13, 2; Chandana K (Karnataka) 2:18.71, 3. 4x100M freestyle relay: Karnataka (Shraddha Sudhir, Ranjana H, Chandana K, Damini K Gowda) 4:22.68, 1; Tamil Nadu (PM Abhishiktha, Aishwarya Selvakumar, Nikita Bhaiya, Nivya Raja) 4:27.99, 2; Maharashtra (Yuga Birnale, Ayusha Bora, Sana Bhabha, Neha Prasad) 4:32.53, 3. 100M backstroke: Maana Patel (Gujarat) 1:05.67 (NR; Old: 1:08.40, Maana Patel, Gujarat, Heats, 2013) 1; Damini K Gowda (Karnataka) 1:09.16, 2; Nivya Raja (Tamil Nadu) 1:11.52, 3. 100M breaststroke: Riddhi S Bohra (Karnataka) 1:23.08, 1; Sayani Ghosh (West Bengal) 1:23.87, 2; Shraddha Sudhir (Karnataka) 1:23.88, 3.
Waterpolo: Boys: Delhi: 6 bt Madhya Pradesh: 4; Karnataka: 8 bt Andhra Pradesh: 0; Punjab: 6 bt Manipur: 2.
Girls: West Bengal:  bt Delhi: 0; Maharashtra: 10 bt Manipur: 0; Karnataka: 8 bt Andhra Pradesh: 0.