Malavika takes centre stage

BAC swimmer wins two gold in record time

 Basavanagudi Aquatic Centre’s (BAC) Malavika Vishwanath was in splendid form as she completed a fine double to win the 200M and the 800M freestyle events in record-breaking fashion on the opening day of the State Senior Aquatics Championships here at the Dolphin Aquatics pool on Friday.

In the 200M freestyle, a race that featured just BAC swimmers in the final, there was no stopping the 17-year-old as she claimed up the gold in 2:09.07, rewriting a 16-year-old mark of 2:10.57 set by the former swimming star Nisha Millet in 1999. Shraddha Sudhir took the silver in 2:14.23, while Preksha HM settled for the bronze medal in 2:18.97.

In the 800M freestyle final, Malavika was in her elements as she raced to a convincing win in nine minutes and 18 seconds to overhaul the previous best of 9:26.30 set by Surabhi Tipre in 2011. Shraddha, this time, was a distant second in 9:48.58 while Preksha once again finished third in 9:52.28.

Pooja Aquatic Centre’s Saloni Dalal won the 100M breaststroke in another record-breaking show. The 13-year-old who stole the limelight with a bronze medal at the 2014 National Games, won the gold in 1:18.51, two seconds better than the previous best set by Tejaswini V of BAC at 1:20.58 in 2006.

BAC’s Damini K Gowda also etched her name in the record books as she won the 200M backstroke in a dominant manner. The 17-year-old put up a spectacular show to claim the yellow metal in 2:27.68, rewriting her previous mark of 2:27.92 set in 2014.

Results: Men: 200M freestyle: Avinash M (BAC) 1:58.63, 1; Md Yaqoob Saleem (Dolphin) 1:58.86, 2; Sanjay CJ (Dolphin) 1:59.62, 3.

800M freestyle: Md Yaqoob Saleem (Dolphin) 8:55.26, 1; Avinash M (BAC) 8:56.49, 2; Sanjay CJ (Dolphin) 9:00.17, 3.

200M backstroke: Arvind M (BAC) 2:13.68, 1; Saurabh Vernekar (BAC) 2:23.00, 2; Indulkar P (BAC) 2:24.47, 3.

100M breaststroke: Prithvi M (BAC) 1:08.37, 1; Vaishnav Hegde (Puttur) 11:11.07, 2; Gaurav Yadav (Dolphin) 1:12.76, 3.

400M medley: Arvind M (BAC) 4:51.50, 1; Indulkar P (BAC) 5:05.09, 2; Om Kumar TH (BAC) 5:09.72, 3.

4x100M freestyle: Basavanagudi Aquatic Centre ‘A’ 3:42.71, 1; Dolphin Aquatics 3:43.58, 2; Basavanagudi Aquatic Centre ‘B’ 4:05.21, 3.

4x200M freestyle relay: Basavanagudi Aquatic Centre ‘A’ 8:33.09, 1; Dolphin Aquatics 8:39.46, 2; Basavanagudi Aquatic Centre ‘B’  8:41.18, 3.

Women: 200M freestyle: Malavika V (BAC) 2:09.07 (SR; Old: 2:10.57, Nisha Millet, BAC 1999) 1; Shraddha Sudhir (BAC) 2:14.23, 2; preksha Hm (BAC) 2:18.97, 3.

800M freestyle: Malavika V (BAC) 9:18.39 (State Record; Old: 9:26.30, Surabhi Tipre, BAC, 2011) 1; Shraddha Sudhir (BAC) 9:48.58, 2; Preksha HM 9:52.28, 3.

200M backstroke: Damini K Gowda (BAC) 2:27.68 (SR; Old: 2:27.92, Damini K Gowda, BAC, 2014) 1; Harishree K Rai (Global) 2:39.63, 2; Jhanati Rajesh (BAC) 2:42.15, 3.

100M breaststroke: Saloni Dalal (Pooja) 1:18.51 (SR; Old: 1:20.58, Tejaswini V, BAC, 2006) 1; Charu Hamsini (BAC) 1:20.38, 2; Harshitha Jayaram (Global) 1:21.79, 3.

400M medley: Shraddha Sudhir (BAC) 5:23.97, 1; Rhia Singh (BAC) 5:35.59, 2; Shriya R Bhat (BAC) 5:42.24, 3.

4x100M freestyle relay: Basavanagudi Aquatic Centre ‘A’ 4:22.76, 1; Basavanagudi Aquatic Centre ‘B’ 4:28.35, 2; Pooja Aquatics 4:45.33, 3.

4x200M freestyle relay: Basavanagudi Aquatic Centre ‘A’ 9:48.85, 1; Basavanagudi Aquatic Centre ‘B’ 10:00.65, 2; Pooja Aquatics 10:21.43, 3.