<p>State swimmers brought their campaign back on track with a far more impressive show on the third day. Akshay Krishna (boys’ Group I), Aravind M (boys’ Group II), the boys’ Group II 4x200M freestyle relay team and Pranam B (boys’ Group II) also won gold to round off a pretty good day.<br /><br />Karnataka lead the table with 309 points with Maharashtra in second spot on 293 points with two days of competition left. For the second day running, Arhatha suffered a setback after her disqualification in the 200 fly on Thursday. Sneha took an early lead and maintained half-a-body length margin. The Bishop Cotton Girls School tenth standard student touched the 50-metre mark in 32 seconds, more than a second ahead of Arhatha.<br /><br />Cheered by a strong home crowd, both were involved in an exciting fight. Sneha held on to touch the pad in one minute 08.71 seconds to grab gold. Arhatha took silver in 1:09.56, way below her personal best of 1:03.24 set last year.<br /><br />Akshay gave the hosts a winning start in the evening, cruising home in 4:57.42 seconds to claim the 400M individual medley title. Soon after, Arvind warded off a strong challenge from State-mate Akhilesh Ram in the corresponding event of the boys’ Group II category. <br /><br />Aravind clocked 5:12.41 to finish first ahead of Akhilesh, who came second in 5:13.14. <br /><br />Pranam won the day’s final event, the 50M backstroke, for his third gold of the meet. <br /><br />Three national records were broken on Friday. Surabhi Tipre timed 17:46.88 to sink the girls’ Group II 1500M freestyle mark. Rujuta Bhatt of Maharashtra (girls’ Group I 100M butterfly) and Maharashtra’s 4x200M freestyle relay team (girls Group II) were the other record breakers.<br /><br />In water polo competition, riding on a four-goal effort from Uttara G Kothari, Karnataka girls routed Delhi 11-0. Thagnatha S Prasad netted three goals and Anarghya Prasad scored a brace while Sowbhagya Lakshmi KT and Mrudula V found the target once each.<br /><br />The State boys beat Madhya Pradesh 8-0. Vishal A netted thrice while Raghu R, Lohith K, Kumar Gowda, Ramston Edwin, Avinash A Rao scored one goal apiece.<br /><br />Results: <br /><br />Boys: Group I: 100M freestyle: Jaywant Vijaya Kumar (TN) 55.04, 1; Sajan Prakash (TN) 55.14, 2; Apurva Sharma (Mah) 56.55, 3. 50M backstroke: Gopinath Kayal (WB) 29.01, 1; K Nandakumar (TN) 29.68, 2; V Turbu (Ker) 29.96, 3. 400M individual medley: Akshay Krishna (Kar) 4:57.42, 1; Rahul Chokshi (Guj) 4:58.96, 2; Sachin Kumar Maurya (UP) 5:01.98, 3. 4x200m freestyle relay: Maharashtra (Saurabh, Ajey, Rahul, Kevin) 8:22.16, 1; Karnataka (Ajay A, Akash Rohit, Prajwal K S, Akshay Krishna) 8:22.68, 2; Tamil Nadu (Girish, Sandeep, Sajan, Jaywant) 8:27.89, 3.<br /><br />Group II: 100M freestyle: Neil Contractor (Guj) 59.25, 1; Himanshu Dhakad (MP) 59.32, 2; Viraj Dhokale (Mah) 59.41, 3. 50M backstroke: Pranam B (Kar) 30.50, 1; Tuhin Kumar Kundu (WB) 31.33, 2; Rohit Imoliya (MP) 31.80, 3. 400M individual medley: Arvind M (Kar) 5:12.41, 1; Akhilesh Ram (Kar) 5:13.14, 2; Supriya Mondal (WB) 5:22.30, 3. 4x200M freestyle relay: Karnataka (Akhilesh Ram, S V Sumukh, Arvind M, Pranam B) 8:58.29, 1; Maharashtra (Viraj, Mitesh, Sudhanshu, Jay) 9:09.15, 2; Tamil Nadu (Larsen, Arvind, Gautham, Adarsh) 9:15.69, 3.<br /><br />Girls: Group I: 1500M freestyle: Surabhi Tipre (Mah) 17:46.88; NR. Old record (18:42.00, Sushaka Pratap, Karnataka, 2009) 1; Sri Lakshmi Gorur (Kar) 18:57.92, 2; Srishti Tandon (Raj) 19:03.44, 3. 50M backstroke: Kavya Bhandekar (Mah) 33.04, 1; C Aishwarya (TN) 33.32, 2; Aarsi Poddar (WB) 33.81, 3. 100M butterflystroke: Sneha T (Kar) 1:08.71, 1; Arhatha Magavi (Kar) 1:09.56, 2; Shinjini Sahay (Mah) 1:12.32, 3. 4x200M freestyle relay: Tamil Nadu (Vishali, Raghavi, Gulnaz, Anusha) 9:26.58, 1; Karnataka (Sneha T, Meghana S, Bhoomi R Motwani, Prathima Kollali) 9:27.59, 2; Maharashtra (Surabhi, Shinjini, Komal, Poorva s) 9:48.63, 3.<br /><br />Group II: 50M backstroke: Ananya Panigrahi (Mah) 33.86, 1; Rhea Castelino (AP) 34.21, 2; Avantika Chavan (Mah) 35.15, 3. 100M butterflystroke: Rujuta Bhatt (Mah) 1:06.81; NR. Old record (1:07.29, Arhatha Magavi, Karnataka, 2008) 1; Rujuta Udishi (Mah) 1:09.83, 2; Srishti Nag (Chh) 1:12.34, 3. 800M freestyle: Kanchi Desai (Mah) 9:46.03, 1; V K R Meenakshi (TN) 10:14.28, 2; Vani Sahni (Del) 10:18.61, 3. 4x200M freestyle relay: Maharashtra (Rujuta U, Rujuta B, Ananya, Kanchi) 9:27.40; NR. Old record: 9:31.37 (Karnataka, 2008) 1; Karnataka (Ishwarya Bhandari, Saptami U S, Ashritha N, Tulasi R) 9:45.56, 2; Delhi (Vani, Priyanka, Greeshma, Ruhaab) 9:46.74, 3.<br /><br />Waterpolo: Boys: Karnataka: 8 (Vishal A 3, Raghu R, Lohith K, Kumar Gowda, Ramston Edwin, Avinash A Rao) bt Madhya Pradesh: 0; Bengal bt Punjab 7-4; Delhi bt Manipur 5-2; Maharashtra bt Kerala 9-2.<br /><br />Girls: Kerala bt Bengal 6-1; Karnataka: 11 (Uttara G Kothari 4, Thagnatha S Prasad 3, Anarghya Prasad 2, Sowbhagya Lakshmi K T, Mrudula V) bt Delhi: 0.</p>
<p>State swimmers brought their campaign back on track with a far more impressive show on the third day. Akshay Krishna (boys’ Group I), Aravind M (boys’ Group II), the boys’ Group II 4x200M freestyle relay team and Pranam B (boys’ Group II) also won gold to round off a pretty good day.<br /><br />Karnataka lead the table with 309 points with Maharashtra in second spot on 293 points with two days of competition left. For the second day running, Arhatha suffered a setback after her disqualification in the 200 fly on Thursday. Sneha took an early lead and maintained half-a-body length margin. The Bishop Cotton Girls School tenth standard student touched the 50-metre mark in 32 seconds, more than a second ahead of Arhatha.<br /><br />Cheered by a strong home crowd, both were involved in an exciting fight. Sneha held on to touch the pad in one minute 08.71 seconds to grab gold. Arhatha took silver in 1:09.56, way below her personal best of 1:03.24 set last year.<br /><br />Akshay gave the hosts a winning start in the evening, cruising home in 4:57.42 seconds to claim the 400M individual medley title. Soon after, Arvind warded off a strong challenge from State-mate Akhilesh Ram in the corresponding event of the boys’ Group II category. <br /><br />Aravind clocked 5:12.41 to finish first ahead of Akhilesh, who came second in 5:13.14. <br /><br />Pranam won the day’s final event, the 50M backstroke, for his third gold of the meet. <br /><br />Three national records were broken on Friday. Surabhi Tipre timed 17:46.88 to sink the girls’ Group II 1500M freestyle mark. Rujuta Bhatt of Maharashtra (girls’ Group I 100M butterfly) and Maharashtra’s 4x200M freestyle relay team (girls Group II) were the other record breakers.<br /><br />In water polo competition, riding on a four-goal effort from Uttara G Kothari, Karnataka girls routed Delhi 11-0. Thagnatha S Prasad netted three goals and Anarghya Prasad scored a brace while Sowbhagya Lakshmi KT and Mrudula V found the target once each.<br /><br />The State boys beat Madhya Pradesh 8-0. Vishal A netted thrice while Raghu R, Lohith K, Kumar Gowda, Ramston Edwin, Avinash A Rao scored one goal apiece.<br /><br />Results: <br /><br />Boys: Group I: 100M freestyle: Jaywant Vijaya Kumar (TN) 55.04, 1; Sajan Prakash (TN) 55.14, 2; Apurva Sharma (Mah) 56.55, 3. 50M backstroke: Gopinath Kayal (WB) 29.01, 1; K Nandakumar (TN) 29.68, 2; V Turbu (Ker) 29.96, 3. 400M individual medley: Akshay Krishna (Kar) 4:57.42, 1; Rahul Chokshi (Guj) 4:58.96, 2; Sachin Kumar Maurya (UP) 5:01.98, 3. 4x200m freestyle relay: Maharashtra (Saurabh, Ajey, Rahul, Kevin) 8:22.16, 1; Karnataka (Ajay A, Akash Rohit, Prajwal K S, Akshay Krishna) 8:22.68, 2; Tamil Nadu (Girish, Sandeep, Sajan, Jaywant) 8:27.89, 3.<br /><br />Group II: 100M freestyle: Neil Contractor (Guj) 59.25, 1; Himanshu Dhakad (MP) 59.32, 2; Viraj Dhokale (Mah) 59.41, 3. 50M backstroke: Pranam B (Kar) 30.50, 1; Tuhin Kumar Kundu (WB) 31.33, 2; Rohit Imoliya (MP) 31.80, 3. 400M individual medley: Arvind M (Kar) 5:12.41, 1; Akhilesh Ram (Kar) 5:13.14, 2; Supriya Mondal (WB) 5:22.30, 3. 4x200M freestyle relay: Karnataka (Akhilesh Ram, S V Sumukh, Arvind M, Pranam B) 8:58.29, 1; Maharashtra (Viraj, Mitesh, Sudhanshu, Jay) 9:09.15, 2; Tamil Nadu (Larsen, Arvind, Gautham, Adarsh) 9:15.69, 3.<br /><br />Girls: Group I: 1500M freestyle: Surabhi Tipre (Mah) 17:46.88; NR. Old record (18:42.00, Sushaka Pratap, Karnataka, 2009) 1; Sri Lakshmi Gorur (Kar) 18:57.92, 2; Srishti Tandon (Raj) 19:03.44, 3. 50M backstroke: Kavya Bhandekar (Mah) 33.04, 1; C Aishwarya (TN) 33.32, 2; Aarsi Poddar (WB) 33.81, 3. 100M butterflystroke: Sneha T (Kar) 1:08.71, 1; Arhatha Magavi (Kar) 1:09.56, 2; Shinjini Sahay (Mah) 1:12.32, 3. 4x200M freestyle relay: Tamil Nadu (Vishali, Raghavi, Gulnaz, Anusha) 9:26.58, 1; Karnataka (Sneha T, Meghana S, Bhoomi R Motwani, Prathima Kollali) 9:27.59, 2; Maharashtra (Surabhi, Shinjini, Komal, Poorva s) 9:48.63, 3.<br /><br />Group II: 50M backstroke: Ananya Panigrahi (Mah) 33.86, 1; Rhea Castelino (AP) 34.21, 2; Avantika Chavan (Mah) 35.15, 3. 100M butterflystroke: Rujuta Bhatt (Mah) 1:06.81; NR. Old record (1:07.29, Arhatha Magavi, Karnataka, 2008) 1; Rujuta Udishi (Mah) 1:09.83, 2; Srishti Nag (Chh) 1:12.34, 3. 800M freestyle: Kanchi Desai (Mah) 9:46.03, 1; V K R Meenakshi (TN) 10:14.28, 2; Vani Sahni (Del) 10:18.61, 3. 4x200M freestyle relay: Maharashtra (Rujuta U, Rujuta B, Ananya, Kanchi) 9:27.40; NR. Old record: 9:31.37 (Karnataka, 2008) 1; Karnataka (Ishwarya Bhandari, Saptami U S, Ashritha N, Tulasi R) 9:45.56, 2; Delhi (Vani, Priyanka, Greeshma, Ruhaab) 9:46.74, 3.<br /><br />Waterpolo: Boys: Karnataka: 8 (Vishal A 3, Raghu R, Lohith K, Kumar Gowda, Ramston Edwin, Avinash A Rao) bt Madhya Pradesh: 0; Bengal bt Punjab 7-4; Delhi bt Manipur 5-2; Maharashtra bt Kerala 9-2.<br /><br />Girls: Kerala bt Bengal 6-1; Karnataka: 11 (Uttara G Kothari 4, Thagnatha S Prasad 3, Anarghya Prasad 2, Sowbhagya Lakshmi K T, Mrudula V) bt Delhi: 0.</p>