Siva surges past National mark

Young BAC trainee breaks 50M backstroke record on opening day

The BAC trainee’s national mark was the first for the hosts in six days after none of the State swimmers could go under the individual national mark in the Junior meet which concluded on Sunday. Siva, who led from start to finish, quelled a feeble challenge from VS Gokulnath of Tamil Nadu in the boys’ Group IV one-lap event.

The Mahila Seva Samaja fourth standard student clocked 35.50 seconds, slicing 0.17 seconds off the old mark of 35.67 created by Yudhishthir Jaising of Maharashtra in 2005. Gokulnath took silver in 37.54 and his team-mate S Danush clinched bronze in 38.17.

The only other gold for the hosts was won by Md Yaqoob Saleem in the boys’ Group III 200M freestyle. Yaqoob cruised home in a time of two minutes 18.98 seconds to beat N Sriniram of Tamil Nadu (2:21.47) to second place.

Monique Gandhi of Maharashtra and Sherlyn Devadason of Tamil Nadu (both girls’ Group III) joined Siva in the list of individual record-breakers on the first day. Monique, who clocked 2:39.39 to better the national mark in the morning heats, rewrote the record again in the evening final of the 200M freestyle.

The Maharashtran stopped the clock at 2:17.52 to pip Malavika V of Karnataka to the gold. Malavika, who also bettered the national mark, pocketed silver in 2:17.84. Monique erased the five-year-old mark of 2:20.10 which stood in the name of Kanchi Desai, also of Maharashtra.

Sherlyn timed 1:09.73 to send into oblivion Rujuta Bhat’s two-year-old 100 fly national record of 1:10.03. Hosts’ Damini K Gowda claimed silver 1:10:99. Maharashtra swept all the four 4x50M freestyle relay gold medals on Monday, with their boys’ Group IV and girls’ Group III relay teams sinking the national marks.

Results:
Boys: Group III: 200M freestyle: Md Yaqoob Saleem (Kar) 2:18.98, 1; N Sriniram (TN) 2:21.47, 2; Kerthan Balasubramanian (TN) 2:21.57, 3.
100M butterflystroke: N Sriniram (TN) 1:09.30, 1; Vinayak Parihar (Del) 1:12.07, 2; Vishwesh Dudham (Mah) 1:12.57, 3.
4x50M freestyle relay: Maharashtra (Ishaan, Jason, Vishwesh, Viraj) 1:59.79, 1; Tamil Nadu (Keerthan, Sriniram, Sumer, Malhotra) 1:59.95, 2; Bengal (Vilash, Santanu, Kunal, Rishav) 2:00.60, 3.
Group IV: 50M backstroke: S Siva (Kar) 35.50; National record. Old record (35.67, Yudhishthir Jaising, Maharashtra, 2005) 1; V S Gokulnath (TN) 37.54, 2; S Danush (TN) 38.17, 3.
4x50M freestyle relay: Maharashtra (Aryan, Sushrut, Ritish, Siddharth) 2:10.33; NR. Old record (2:11.97, Maharashtra, 2007) 1; Tamil Nadu (Abhishek, Danush, Balaji, Gokulnath) 2:11.33, 2. Bettered meet mark; Karnataka (V G Madhesh, Sri Hari N, Karan K Raju, S Siva) 2:16.45, 3.
Girls: Group III: 200M freestyle: Monique Gandhi (Mah) 2:17.52 (bettered national mark in heats: 2:19.39); NR. Old record (2:20.10, Kanchi Desai, Mah, 2005); Malavika V (Kar) 2:17.84, 2. BMR; Aakansksha Vora (Mah) 2:19.04, 3. BMR.
100M butterfly: Sherlyn Meghna Devadason (TN) 1:09:73. NR. Old record: 1:10.03, Rujuta Bhat, Mah, 2008); Damini K Gowda (Kar) 1:10:99, 2; Monique Gandhi (Mah) 1:11:89, 3.
4x50M freestyle relay: Maharashtra (Ashwathy, Monique, Aakanksha, Trisha) 2:02.50; NR. Old record (2:05.23, Maharashtra, 2003) 1; Karnataka (Deeksha Ramesh, Siya Manjeshwar, Damini K Gowda, Malavika V) 2:03.00, 2. BMR; Tamil Nadu (Yuvashree, Sherlyn, Nikita, Jayaveena) 2:04.10, 3. BMR.
Group IV: 50M backstroke: Sakshi Bhalgat (Mah) 38.97, 1; PM Abishiktha (TN) 39.50, 2; Vanshika Shah (Mah) 40.20, 3.
4x50M freestyle: Maharashtra (Pranjal, Proteeti, Tanisha, Vanishika) 2:22.46, 1; Karnataka (Ruthwika Hullur, Nikitha S V, Akshata Desai, Preethi T) 2:22.48, 2; Tamil Nadu (Kaavya, Sharon, Uma Devi, Abishiktha) 2:23.55, 3.
Diving: Boys: Group III: High board: Sidharth Pardeshi (SSCB) 244.30 points, 1; Aditya G (Mah) 221.75, 2; Rishikesh Y (Mah) 186.40, 3.
Girls: Group II: High board: Swati V (Mah) 191.95, 1; Mayuri d (Mah) 120.75, 2; Radhika A (MP) 109.00, 3.
Group III: High board: Genevieve D’Costa (Goa) 125.45, 1; Sayali M (Mah) 115.40, 2; Sumana P (WB) 92.40, 3.