Karnataka put up dominant show on Day 1

Srihari Natraj, Tanish George and Saloni Dalal we­re the pick of the performe­rs as champions Karnataka began their title defence at the 44th Junior National Aq­uatic Championships in an emphatic manner at the Sh­ree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex here on Monday.

The trio were in top form, setting the pool ablaze with their nippy strokes. They won their races in record time as seven meet marks tumbled on a sunny evening here. The dominant show places the State side on top of the medals table with six gold, eight silver and four bronze while hosts Maharashtra are second with six gold, two sliver and six bronze.

In the Group I, 50M backstroke final, Srihari knew he needed to pull out something special to beat the reigning champion and the record holder of the event, Goa's Xavier D’Souza.

But the manner in which the they started, it looked like Xavier would go on to retain his crown.

Quick to get off the blocks, the Goan surged ahead and managed half-a-body-length lead at the half way mark. But that barely seemed to bother Srihari in the adjacent lane as the Global Aquatic Centre trainee accelerated in the final 10 metres to surge ahead and touch the pad in 26.90 seconds. The timing helped him set a new meet record, obliterating the previous best of 27.58 seconds set by Xavier last year.

“He starts well and I finish well, I think that’s what you saw there,” said Srihari describing the race.
“I knew he has a good start and that I had to push till the end to beat him. I am happy after three attempts I could finally beat him,” he added.

Unlike Srihari, Saloni’s race to the top of the podium in the Group I, 200M breaststroke was a comfortable affair. The Basavanagudi Aquatic Centre trainee built up a lead of almost two body lengths at the first turn and there was no looking back from there on, as she won the race in 2:43.01, a new national mark. The 15-year-old improved on the previous best of 2:46.96 set by Tamil Nadu’s M Raghvi in 2011.

The 14-year-old Tanish had to see off a stiff challenge from Tamil Nadu’s Vikkas P before clinching the Group II, 50M butterfly in record time. The Dolphin Aquatics trainee won the gold in 26.68 seconds, 0.21 seconds quicker than Vikkas who clocked 26.99 seconds for the silver.

Karnataka’s Khushi Dinesh too enjoyed a fruitful outing, winning the Group II, 200M and the 1500M freestyle races in commanding manner.

Results: Swimming: Boys: Group I: 400M freestyle: Kushagra Rawat (Del) 4:07.75, 1; Rahul M (Kar) 4:12.26, 2; Vedant Khandeparkar (Mah) 4:17.09, 3.

50M backstroke: Srihari Natraj (Kar) 26.90 (NMR; Old: 27.58, Xavier D’Souza, Goa, 2016) 1; Xavier D’Souza (Goa) 27.45, 2; Soumayajit Saha (Ben) 28.42, 3.

200M breaststroke: Danush S (TN) 2:22.44 (NMR; Old: 2:24.15, Likhith SP, Kar, 2015), 1; Lohith M (AP) 2:26.26, 2; Manhalsana Meitei (Services) 2:29.00.

4x100M freestyle relay: Maharashtra 3:37.88 (NMR; Old: 3:39.40, Maharashtra, 2015 ) 1; Karantaka 3:38.78, 2; Bengal 3:46.47, 3.

50M butterfly: Mihir Ambre (Mah) 25.88, 1; Neel Roy (Mah) 26.27, 2; Adhithya D (TN) 26.28, 3.
Group II: 400M freestyle: Aryan Nehra (Guj) 4:21.41, 1; Param Birthare (MP) 4:22.91, 2; Leonard V (TN) 4:25.22, 3.

50M backstroke: Tanmay Das (Del) 28.93, 1; Shivansh Singh (Kar) 29.86, 2; Aakashdeep Singh (Pun) 30.11, 3.

200M breaststroke: Swadesh Mondal (Be­n) 2:28.87 (NMR; Old: 2:29.48, Likhith SP, Kar, 2012) 1; Bhargav Phukan (Asm) 2:36.53, 2; Litheesh Gowda (Kar) 2:36.90, 3.

50M butterfly: Tanish Mathew (Kar) 26.68 (NMR; Old: 26.86, Himanshu Dhakar, MP, 2011) 1; Vikkas P (TN) 26.99; Prasidha Krishna (Kar) 27.60, 3.

Girls: Group I: 200M freestyle: Rayna Saldanha (Mah) 2:11.02, 1; Annie Jain (MP) 2:14.05, 2; Mayuri Lingaraju (Kar), Sadhvi Dhuri (Mah) 2:14.09, 3.

50M backstroke: Jaahnavi R (TN) 31.75, 1; Jhanati Rajesh (Kar) 32.37, 2; Khushi Jain (Har) 32.51, 3.
800M freestyle: Abishiktha PM (TN) 9:36.15, 1; Rayna Saldanha (Mah) 9:36.35, 2; Prachi Tokas (Del) 9:48.03, 3.

200M breaststroke: Saloni Dalal (Kar) 2:43.01 (NMR; Old: 2:46.96, M Raghvi, TN, 2011) 1; Harshitha Jayaram (Kar) 2:49.09, 2; Kalyani Saxena (Guj) 2:51.88, 2.

50M butterfly: Aarya Rajguru (Mah) 29.56, 1; Mayuri Lingaraju (Kar) 29.86, 2; Sadhvi Dhuri (Mah) 29.93, 3.

Group II: 200M freestyle: Khushi Dinesh (Kar) 2:12.83, 1; Astha Choudhary (Asm) 2:13.76, 2; Akansha Shah (Mah) 2:17.16, 3.

1500M freestyle: Khushi Dinesh (Kar) 18:28.09, 1; Poojitha Murthy (Kar) 18:58.06, 2; Akanksha Shah (Mah) 19:08.78, 3.

50M backstroke: Tanisha Malviya (Del) 32.05, 1; Suvana Baskar (Kar) 32.31, 2; Jahnavi Goli (Tel) 32.33, 3.

200M breaststroke: Kenisha Gupta (Mah) 2:51.94 (NMR; Old: 2:52.29, Saloni Dalal, Kar, 2015), 1; Adithi Balaji (TN) 2:52.26, 2; Rachana Rao (Kar) 2:52.93, 3.

50M butterfly: Kenisha Gupta (Mah) 30.17, 1; Liyana Umer (Ker) 30.48, 2; Uttara Gogoi (Asm) 30.80, 3.
Group II: 4x100M freestyle relay: Karnataka 3:52.22, 1; Tamil Nadu 3.53.21, 2; Maharashtra 3:54.09, 3.
Waterpolo: Boys: Bengal: 6 bt Delhi: 1; Karnataka w.o. Madhya Pradesh; Maharashtra: 10 bt Manipur: 2; Kerala: 10 bt Punjab: 3.

Girls: Bengal: 10 bt Delhi: 0; Maharashtra: 13 bt Manipur: 0; Bengal: 8 bt Madhya Pradesh: 0; Karnataka: 10 bt Delhi: 0.