Khade off to blazing start

Karnataka men pocket 4x100M relay gold with new meet mark

Quick, brilliant and always in command, the duo blazed away to two gold medals each, setting new games records en route and announcing their intentions in a strong fashion at the Beer Budhu Bhagat Aquatic Stadium.

Karnataka, the swimming powerhouse, did not have a great day by their own standards but ended it on a positive note, defending their 4x100M freestyle relay gold.
The quartet of Arjun JP, Gagan AP, Aditya Roshan and Ashwin Menon timed 3:37.47 to erase the record set by the State in 2002 while Services finished second with Maharashtra claiming the bronze.

Maharashtra’s Khade, who is the youngest swimmer to represent India in the Olympics, was first up against his Bangalore friends Rohit R Havaldar and Gagan AP in the 200M freestyle.

Although the field had five others, it was considered more of a competition amongst the trio, but such was the perfection in the 19-year-old Khade’s effort, even Havaldar and Gagan were made to look ordinary.

Right from his leap in lane 4, the 6’3” Khade never surrendered the lead, stroking ahead magnificently before touching the pad at 1:53.91 and obliterating his own mark that was set in Guwahati in 2007.

Despite a fighting effort, Havaldar finished second best at 1:55.16 while Gagan took home the bronze after clocking 1:56.93.

If his 200M freestyle effort was superb considering the quality of the field, then Khade’s performance after 15 minutes in the 100M butterfly was crushing. Not intending to go fast at all, the youngster still blasted his way to the first place, clocking 55.56 seconds and shaving of the record set by Akbar Ali Mir in 2002 by nearly 1.5 seconds.

“I never expected to be this fast,” said a buoyant Khade. “I had the relay and three events to compete. I decided to pace the three races, but delighted to have won so comfortably.”

With Shikha Tandon having moved to the United States for studies, the focus in women’s section was completely on Richa and the Delhi youngster hardly disappointed.

Calm and composed, Richa smashed her way to gold in the 200M freestyle and 100M butterfly, clocking 2:09.53 and 1:04.41 respectively.


Results: Men: 200M freestyle: Virdhawal Khade (Maharashtra) 1:53.91 (New Games Record – Old: 1:54.18, Virdhawal Khade) 1; Rohit R Havaldar (Karnataka) 1:55.16, 2; Gagan AP (Karnataka) 1:56.93, 3.
100M butterfly: Virdhawal Khade (Maharashtra) 55.56 (NGR – Old: 57.38, Akbar Ali Mir) 1; Tarun Tokas (Delhi) 58.21, 2; Sumanta Nath (West Bengal) 59.62, 3.
4x100M freestyle relay: Karnataka (Arjun JP, Gagan AP, Aditya Roshan, Ashwin Menon) 3:37.47 (NGR-Old: 3:39.43, Karnataka) 1; Services (Harinder Yadav, Sojo Joseph, Bichu Suresh, Shibu M) 3:43.91, 2; Maharashtra (Apurva Sharma, Virdhawal Khade, Abhijit Garg, Mandar Divase) 3:44.30.
Women: 200M freestyle: Richa Mishra (Delhi) 2:09.53 (NGR – Old: 2:10.48, Shikha Tandon) 1; Talasha Prabhu (Goa) 2:11.62, 2; Arti Ghorpade (Maharashtra) 2:12.12, 3.
100M butterfly: Richa Mishra (Delhi) 1:04.41 (NGR – Old: 1:05.22, Richa Mishra) 1; Pooja R Alva (Karnataka) 1:05.34, 2; Rujuta Bhatt (Maharashtra, 1:06.42) 3.
4x100M freestyle relay: Maharashtra (Aditi Dhumatkar, Avantika Chavan, Rujuta Bhatt, Arti Ghorpade) 4:11.80, 1; Karnataka (Malavika V, Kshipra Mahajan, Pooja R Alva, Pratima Kollali) 4:12.30, 2; Tamil Nadu (R Sushmitha, VKR Meenakshi, AV Jayaveena, Anusha Mehta) 4:12.46, 3.