Damini shines on dull day for hosts

State swimmer grabs 100M backstroke crown

Damini, who led from the start to finish, powered home in one minute 17.32 seconds for the girls Group III 100M backstroke crown ahead of Ashwathy Nair of Maharashtra, who clocked 1:18.26 for the silver. Another Karnataka girl K Harishree J Rai clinched the bronze in a time of 1:21.51.

The day also witnessed some stirring battle, especially in the girls’ Group III category.
The race of the day was the girls’ Group III 50M butterflystroke.
Tipped to be the most exciting event of the championship, the one-lap fly lived up to the billing.

 The event witnessed stiff competition between twin national record holder Sherlyn Meghana Devadason of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka’s Damini and Malavika V, who had a 50M freestyle national mark under her belt.

Neither of them had an edge until the half-way mark when Sherlyn took a narrow lead from Damini and Malavika.

But Malavika couldn’t catch up with the speed of Sherlyn and Damini as she faded away towards the final 10 metres.

Damini, however, continued her fight but could not overcome a spirited Sherlyn, who finished with a record-breaking time of 31.78 seconds for the second time on the day. Sherlyn, earlier, bettered the national mark of 32.36 in the morning heats as well.

Damini timed 32.08 for the silver and in the process 11-year-old also went under the national mark while Damini’s team-mate Malavika took home the bronze in 32.53.
Sherlyn erased old national record of 32.44 set two-years ago by Rujuta Bhatt of Maharashtra.

Maharashtrians Viraj Prabhu (boys Group III 50M breaststroke) and Monique Gandhi (girls Group III 50M breaststroke) and S Danush of Tamil Nadu (boys Group IV 200M individual medley) were the other national record holders on the penultimate day.


Results: Boys: Group III: 100M backstroke: P Mukundhan (TN) 1:13.68, 1; Vedant Seth (Del) 1:15.66, 2; M Keerthy (AP) 1:15.98, 3.
50M breaststroke: Viraj Prabhu (Mah) 34.91. NR. Old record (35.82, Umesh Kumar , UP, 2006) 1; Likhith S P (Kar) 36.65, 2; Deep Shaw (WB) 37.51, 3.
50M butterfly: N Sriniram (TN) 31.11, 1; Avilash C (WB) 32.03, 2; Vishwesh Dudham (Mah) 32.28, 3.
Group IV: 50M freestyle: Ritish Mavle (Mah) 32.07, 1; V S Gokulnath (TN) 32.36, 2; S Abhishek (TN) 32.46, 3.
200M individual medley: S Danush (TN) 2:49.15; NR. Old record (2:49.85, Sagar Kumar, Assam, 2007) 1; S Siva (Kat) 2:49.56, 2. BMR; Aryan Makhija (Mah) 2:54.99, 3.
Girls: Group III: 100M backstroke: Damini K Gowda (Kar) 1:17.32, 1; Ashwathy Nair (Mah) 1:18.26, 2; K Harishree J Rai (Kar) 1:21.51, 3.
50M breaststroke: Monique Gandhi (Mah) 37.47 (bettered national mark in heats: 37.56) NR. Old record (38.85, Man Kiran, Punjab, 2005) 1; AV Jayaveena (TN) 38.63, 2; Charu Hamsini (Kar) 40.06, 3.
50M butterflystroke: Sherlyn Meghna Devadason (TN) 31.78 (bettered national mark in heats: 32.36). NR. Old record (32.44, Rujuta Bhatt, Maharashtra, 2008) 1; Damini K Gowda (Kar) 32.08, 2; Malavika V (Kar) 32.53, 3.
Group IV: 50M freestyle: PM Abishikhta (TN) and Proteeti Sinha (Mah) 34.34, 1; Preethi T (Kar) 34.41, 3.
200M individual medley: PM Abishiktha (TN) 3:02.24, 1; Proteeti Sinha (Mah) 3:03.87, 2; Deepali Bhalia (Guj) 3:04.82, 3.
Diving: Boys: Group I: 3M spring board: Y Hemjit Meitei (SSCB) 384.15, 1; Abhishek R (MP) 245.60, 2; Samir N (Goa) 235.75, 3.
Group III: 1M spring board: Sidharth Pardeshi (SSCB) 255.40 points, 1; Aditya Giram (Mah) 236.35, 2; Sandeep Das (Bhr) 213.55, 3.
Girls: Group I: 3M spring board: Nammi Divya Theja (Kar) 244.60, 1; GP Vedapriya (TN) 213.70, 2; Nikita V Pawar (Kar) 3.
Group II: 3M spring board: Swati V (Mah) 232.50, 1; Radhika A (MP) 185.35, 2; Rachana R (Mah) 156.85, 3.
Group III: Genevieve D (Goa) 162.55, 1; Yashika J (Mah) 150.40, 2; Aboli S (Mah) 146.70, 3.

Foreign coach idea dropped: SFI

The Swimming Federation of India (SFI) has dropped their plan to hire the services of a foreign coach before the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, adds DHNS.

“We had recommended former Australian coach Alan Thomson, but SAI delayed the procedures,” SFI secretary, Virendra Nanavati, said here on Wednesday.

“We had recommended Alan's name in April. Instead of making the procedures fast, the concerned official kept the papers under wraps for long. They did not contact Alan for the next two months. Now we can’t hire another foreign coach. For the time being, we have dropped that idea,” he added.