Karnataka’s swimmers were in fine fettle on the opening day of the 38th National Games by dominating the swimming discipline here on Wednesday.Led from the front by the dynamic Dhinidhi Desinghu, Karnataka ended the day with seven medals, including five gold and two silver.At the forefront of this medal glut was Desinghu, who pocketed titles in the 200M freestyle and 100M butterfly open categories, before teaming up with the 4x100M freestyle squad to dominate the women’s category.As for her most dominant showing on the day, Desinghu set a new mark in the 200M freestyle category by touching the pad in a time of 2:03.24. She torched the previous mark set by Hashika Ramachandra (2:07.08) during the 2022 edition of the Games.In the men’s category, Karnataka didn’t find any winners in the 100M butterfly section, but Srihari Nataraj was on fire in the 200M freestyle category, pocketing the gold in a time of 1:50.57. Aneesh S Gowda bagged the second spot in 1:52.42.Karnataka’s dominance was reiterated in the men’s 4x100M freestyle section when a team of Akash Mani, Chinatan S Shetty, Aneesh S Gowda, and Nataraj came together to set a new mark.Karnataka finished in a time of 2:26.26 to erase their own record from last year, which stood at 2:26.88.Results:Men:200M freestyle: Srihari Nataraj (Kar, 1:50.57) 1; Aneesh S Gowda (Kar, 1:52.42) 2; Sajan Prakash (Ker, 1:53.73).4x100M freestyle: Karnataka (Akash Mani, Chinatan S Shetty, Aneesh S Gowda, Srihari Nataraj) 2:26.26, NMR, OR: Karnataka (2:26.88, 2023) 1; TN (3:29.92) 2; Gujarat (3:32.23) 3.Women:200M freestyle: Dhinidhi Desinghu (Kar, 2:03.24, NMR, OR: Hashika Ramachandra, 2:07.08, 2022) 1; Bhavya Sachdeva (Del, 2:08.68) 2; Aditi Satish Hegde (Mah, 2:09.74) 3.100M butterfly: Dhinidhi Desinghu (Kar, 1:03.62) 1; Naisha Shetty (Kar, 1:04.81) 2; Shristi Upadhaya (Odi, 1:05.20) 3.4x100M freestyle: Karnataka (Nina Venkatesh, Shalini R Dixit, Latiesha Mandana, Dhinidhi Desinghu) 4:01.58, 1; Maharashtra (4:02.17) 2; TN (4:08.81) 3.
