Karnataka begin title defence in style

Aquatics Junior Nationals : Damini, Sanjay shine as hosts clinch 10 gold

 Karnataka won as many as 10 gold medals on the opening day to begin their title defence at the 43rd Glenmark Junior National Aquatics Championships in an emphatic manner.

Eyeing an unprecedented 25th straight title, swimmers from the host State were on the top of their game as they dished out an impressive show that guaranteed them a medal in almost all the 16 finals held during the evening session here at the Basavanagudi Aquatic Centre.

Leading this gold rush were none other than the duo of Sanjay CJ and Damini K Gowda. The swimmers were not only victorious in their individual events, but also reserved enough energy to team-up with their compatriots to clinch the relay titles on a day that saw three new national records being set.

Sanjay was the first Karnataka swimmer to take the pool for his Group II, 200M freestyle. Pacing his race to perfection, the swimmer from Dolphin Aquatics was quick to get off the block and race to a comfortable two second lead in the initial 100 metres. Later, it was just a matter of maintaining the momentum, something Sanjay did well as he bagged the gold in 1:58.21, a new national record. He bettered his own mark of 1:59.90, set at the Pune meet last year.

The 14-year-old later joined forces with Saif Chandan KS, Prasidha Krishna and P Kushal to lead his team to another record-breaking gold in the 4x100M freestyle relay.

The boys from Karnataka won the race in 3:51.79, bettering their mark of 3:54.59 set in 2014.

Continuing from where Sanjay left in the initial half of the evening, a determined Damini too stamped her authority on the meet with a splendid performance in the pool.

The BAC trainee won her Group I, 200M freestyle in 2:10.01, seeing off a stiff challenge from Maharashtra’s Rayna Saldhana, who settled for the silver medal in 2:10.11. Sharaddha Sudhir completed the podium in 2:17.73.

Damini was also instrumental in helping the Karnataka’s Group I, 4x100M freestyle team clinch the gold in fine fashion. The quartet of Damini, Shraddha, Preksha HM and Harshitha J claimed it in 4:10.14.

While Karnataka swimmers dominated the proceedings on the opening day, Uttar Pradesh’s Aaliyah Singh ensured that her performance drew notice in the Group II, 100M breaststroke.

The swimmer won the gold in her event in 1:17.76, a new national mark. She obliterated the previous mark of 1:17.85 set by AV Jayaveena of Karnataka in 2012.

Results: Swimming: Boys: Group I: 200M freestyle: Ishaan Jaffer (Mah) 1:56.68, 1; Shivaksh Sahu (Chg) 1:59.58, 2; Neel Roy (Mah)  1:59.91, 3.

100M backstroke: Srihari N (Kar) 1:00.15, 1; Xavier D’Souza (Goa) 1:00.43, 2; Sawan Sansanwal (Delhi) 1:02.26, 3.

100M breaststroke: Siddharth Sankhe (Mah) 1:06.79, 1; Varun Patel (MP) 1:07.48, 2; Yuvraj Patel (Guj) 1:08.83, 3.

4x100 freestyle relay: Maharashtra 3:42.11, 1; Karnataka 3:45.85, 2; Gujarat 3:46.09, 3.

Group II: 200M freestyle: Sanjay CJ (Kar) 1:58.21 (NMR; Old: 1:59.90, Sanjay CJ, Kar, 2015), 1; Saif Chandan KS (Kar) 2:05.91, 2; Rudransh Mishra (Mah) 2:06.00, 3.
100M backstroke: Siddharth Joshi (Kar) 1:04.92, 1; Nanak Moolchandani (MP) 1:05.18, 2; Tanmay Das (Delhi) 1:05.63, 2.

100M breaststroke: Kushal P (Kar) 1:11.13, 1; Ricky Singh Laikhuram (Man) 1:14.42, 2; Atharva Deshmukhe (Mah) 1:14.99, 3.

4x100M freestyle relay: Karnataka 3:51.79 (NMR; Old: 3:54.49, Karnataka, 2014), 1; Tamil Nadu 3:59.94, 2; Maharashtra 4:01.71, 3.

Girls: Group I: 200M freestyle: Damini K Gowda (Kar) 2:10.01, 1; Rayna Saldhana (Mah) 2:10.11, 2; Shraddha Sudhir (Kar) 2:17.73, 3.

100M backstroke: Yuga Birnale (Mah) 1:09.28, 1; Jhanati Rajesh (Kar) 1:11.38, 2; Soubrity Mondal (Bengal) 1:12.01, 3.

100M breaststroke: Riddhi S Bohra (Kar) 1:18.05, 1; Harshitha Jayaram (Kar) 1:18.31, 2; Sayani Ghosh (Bengal) 1:20.43, 3.

4x100M freestyle relay: Karnataka 4:10.14, 1; Maharashtra 4:11.05, 2; Bengal 4:22.22, 3.

Group II: 200M freestyle: Mayuri Lingaraj (Kar) 2:13.84, 1; Khushi Dinesh (Kar) 2:14.77, 2; Annie Jain (MP) 2:16.98, 3.

100M backstroke: Pratyasa Ray (Odi) 1:10.47, 1; R Jaahnavi (TN) 1:11.43, 2; Suvana C Baskar (Kar) 1:12.74, 3.

100M breaststroke: Aaliyah Singh (UP) 1:17.76 (NMR; Old: 1:17.85, AV Jayaveena, Kar, 2012) 1; Annie Jain (MP) 1:19.21, 2; Sliki Nagpure (Guj) 1:21.30, 3.

4x100M freestyle: Karnataka 4:17.47, 1; Maharashtra 4:22.86, 2; Tamil Nadu 4:30.37, 3.

Water polo: Boys: Bengal: 12 bt Karnataka: 4, Punjab: 10 bt Gujarat: 2, Kerala: 15 bt Manipur: 1.

Girls: Bengal: 13 bt Delhi: 0, Maharashtra: 16 bt Manipur: 0.