JOIN USKarnataka aim to regain title
The two strong State outfits have produced some stirring contests in the past and the five- day meet in the Goan capital will be no exception. Karnataka lost the overall title last year in Kolkata to Maharashtra, who tallied 344 points to emerge champions.
Karnataka’s hope of bringing home the title depends largely on the performance of Damini K Gowda. Damini, who will be competing in the Group IV girls’ category, had won six gold medals in the State championship held last month at the Sports Authority of India, South Centre.
The 10-year-old bettered four national records in that meet. Karnataka coach Bushan Kumar said on the eve of the meet that Damini can easily win four gold medals here.
“Damini can win the gold in the 50 and 100 freestyle, 200IM and 50 breaststroke events.
She is way above other swimmers in these events. But in the 50M backstroke and 50M butterfly she faces tough competition from Maharashtra swimmers,” said Bushan.
However, Bushan felt the battle for overall title will be very close this time too. “In Kolkata we lost the overall title by a few points. So we are very keen to win that title here. We will go all out against Maharashtra. The competition is growing each year, so here also we expect a close contest,” Bushan added.
Karnataka also have Malavika Vishwanath, who came up with a couple of gold in Kolkata, leading their quest in the Group III girls’ category.
In the boys’ section, Arvind and Pranam, the leading performers last year, have moved to the junior section. However, Vishak R and Vishwas Shanbagh, both Group III swimmers, have the wherewithal to beat any swimmer. “Vishak and Vishwas have the potential to beat any swimmer. Likith and Manish are also medal hopefuls,” said Bushan. Besides the top two teams, challengers from Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Assam, Delhi and Services will add meat to the meet. In diving Karnataka pin their hopes on youngsters like Divya K (Group I), Nammi Divya Teja (Group II) and Anirudh (Group II).
“All the three divers will take part in the 1M and 3M springboard events and also in the highboard category. We have an edge in the girls section while in the boys section it will be a tough battle. We are confident we can win couple of gold medals here,” said Karnataka diving coach G R Balaraju.
Around 550 athletes from 26 units are participating in the meet. The swimmers and divers will have an added incentive to come up with their best effort as an outstanding performance here will open the door to the sixth Asian Age Group meet in Tokyo from August 9-13.