JOIN USSajan continues five-star form
It was another busy day in the office for Sajan Prakash as he took a firm step towards becoming the outstanding athlete of the 35th National Games.
On another record-filled day at the B R Amdedkar Swimming Complex here, Kerala’s Sajan splashed his way to his fifth gold medal, this time in the men’s 800M freestyle.
Meet records were rewritten in all the six finals of the day and Sajan led the way with a commanding performance. Also standing out was the performance of the Maharashtra swimmers, who picked up three gold medals.
Karnataka didn’t have much to cheer about but M Arvind and Vaania Kapoor Achuthan ensured they didn’t return empty-handed. Arvind claimed the 100M backstroke silver with a career-best effort while Vaania won the bronze in women’s 100M backstroke.
There were few worries for the Kerala swimmer in the 800M freestyle. Maharashtra’s Saurabh Sangvekar kept pace with Sajan in the early part but the latter was always in control. Once past the half-way mark, Sajan stepped it up before pulling away to finish in 8:15.49.
The meet record of 8:27.22, set by Karnataka’s Gagan A P four years ago, didn’t stand a chance of surviving the charge from the 21-year-old Railway employee. Arvind, who had won the 400M individual medley gold two days ago, did well in the 100M backstroke.
The 18-year-old RVCE student was up against an experienced campaigner in P S Madhu of Services and as expected, Madhu proved a touch superior, touching home in 57.62 to better the meet mark of 58.76 he set in the heats earlier in the day.
Arvind also went under that time with a 58.18, improving upon his personal best of 59.02 set at the National Championships in Kolkata last year. Akanksha Vohra in the women’s 1500M freestyle and Jyotsna Pansare in the women’s 50M butterfly struck gold for Maharashtra before Virdhawal Khade brought curtains to the day’s programme with a spectacular burst in the men’s 50M butterfly.
Khade, who set the meet mark of 25.16 in this event four years ago, blasted that off the books with a 24.76-second blitz, putting Kerala’s Sarma P S Nair and Bengal’s Supriya Mondal to shade.
In water polo, Karnataka women drubbed Manipur 21-0.
Results: Men: 800M freestyle: Sajan Prakash 8:15.49 (NMR. Old: 8:27.22, Gagan AP, 2011), 1; Saurabh Sangvekar (Maharashtra) 8:22.50, 2; Anand A S (Kerala) 8:27.27, 3.
50M butterfly: Virdhawal Khade (Maharashtra) 24.73 seconds (NMR. Old: 25.16, Khade, 2011), 1; Sarma P S Nair (Kerala) 25.17, 2; Supriya Mondal (Bengal) 25.37, 3.
100M backstroke: Madhu P S (Services) 57.62 (NMR. Old: 58.76, Madhu, heats), 1; Arvind M (Karnataka) 58.18, 2; Aaron D’Souza (Madhya Pradesh) 58.46, 3.
Women: 1500M freestyle: Akanksha Vohra (Maharashtra) 17:42.44 (NMR. Old: 18:14.79, Richa Mishra, 2011), 1; Richa Mishra (Madhya Pradesh) 17:55.26, 2; Monique Gandhi (Maharashtra) 18:00.03, 3.
50M butterfly: Jyotsna Pansare (Maharashtra) 29.12 seconds (NMR. Old: 29.65, Lekha
Kamath, 2007) 1; Avantika Chavan (Maharashtra) 29.14, 2; Sherlyn Meghna Devadason (Tamil Nadu) 29.61, 3.
100M backstroke: Maana Patel (Gujarat) 1:05.32 (NMR. Old: 1:06.68, Maana, 2015, heats), 1; Jyotsna Pansare (Maharashtra) 1:06.09, 2; Vaania Kapoor Achuthan (Karnataka) 1:06.54, 3.
Water polo: Women: Karnataka 21 (Malavika G 3, Varshini G 3, Yashwini G 3, Uttara K 3, Renu R T 2, Keerthana 1, Suchi P 1, Aishwarya 1) bt
Manipur 0.