Rishika shines for Karnataka but Maharashtra dominate

Little-known Rishika Mangale was the only bright spot for Karnataka as Maharashtra continued to assert their dominance on the 34th Glenmark Sub-junior Aquatic Championships here at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Shivaji sports complex on Thursday.

The Vijayanagar Aquatic Centre trainee was in top form as she clinched the 50M butterfly and later helped the quartet comprising of her, Ridhima Kumar, Avni Vishwas and Ashna Mattur win the gold medal in the 4x50M medley relay in record time. Meanwhile, Maharashtra’s Vedika Amin was in sizzling form winning three gold medals at a blazing pace as seven new records were set on the penultimate day of the meet.

The hosts continue to lead the medals tally with 14 gold, four silver and five bronze while Karnataka occupy the second spot with four gold, seven silver and seven bronze.

Taking to the pool for the Group IV, 50M butterfly final, Rishika banked on her nippy strokes to win the gold in 33.39 seconds.

Later, she joined forces with her State-mates to win the 4x50M medley relay in fine manner. The 10-year-old gave her side a healthy three-second lead in the backstroke leg, while the others built on it to stop the clock at 2:30.24. The performance helped them better the previous mark of 2:30.31 set by another Karnataka team in 2015.

Earlier, Vedika set the pool ablaze with quality performances in her races.

The Otters Club trainee won the Group III, 100M breaststroke in 1:18.63, almost three seconds clear of her national mark of 1:21.03 set at the Bengaluru meet last year. “I was racing against the clock. Since this is my record I knew there’s no point in looking at the field, I had to better the timing and that’s all I had on my mind,” she said.

While Vedika was unstoppable in the breaststroke final, in the 50M freestyle she was forced to share the top spot with her State-mate Sanjiti Shah. The duo touched the pad in 28.90 seconds, erasing the previous best of 29.41 seconds set by Gujarat’s Maana Patel in 2012.

The two later combined to win the Group III, 4x50M medley relay along with Apeksha Fernandes and Palak Dhami with the quartet clocking 2:11.24, bettering their previous record of 2:14.86 set in 2016.

Meanwhile, Goa’s Shoan Ganguly continued his superb form at the meet to win the Group III, 200M individual medley in 2:23.20, a new meet record. He obliterated the previous mark of 2:26.73 set by Bengal’s Swadesh Mondal last year.

Assam’s Jahnabi Kashyap too had her name written in the record books, winning the Group IV, 100M freestyle in 1:07.14. She bettered the previous record of 1:09.54 set by Maharashtra’s Palak Dhami in 2015.

Results: Boys: Group III: 50M freestyle: Anubhab Parashar (Asm) 27.67, 1; Rehan Mirza (Asm) 28.53, 2; Pranjal Patra (Ben) 29.21, 3. 50M backstroke: Sahil Laksar (Ben) 30.96 (NMR; Old: 31.87, Tanmay Das, Ben, 2015) 1; Utkarsh Patil (Kar) 32.43, 2; Sanidhya Chouksey (MP) 33.19, 3. 100M breaststroke: Shubhojeet Gupta (Ben) 1:17.56, 1; Surabin Reang (Trp) 1:18.18, 2; Adith Olety (Kar) 1:18.68, 3. 200M individual medley: Shoan Ganguly (Goa) 2:23.20, (NMR; Old: 2:26.73, Swadesh Mondal, Bengal, 2016) 1; Sahil Laskar (Ben) 2:26.02, 2; Utkarsh Patil (Kar) 2:35.66, 3. 4x50M medley relay: Bengal 2:0751, 1; Karnataka 2:09.34, 2; Assam 2:14.46, 3.

Group IV: 100M freestyle: Utkarsh Gor (Mah) 1:07.14, 1; Athouba Meitei (Mnp) 1:10.35, 2; Anish Swarnakar (Ben) 1:10.39, 3. 50M butterfly: Utkarsh Gor (Mah) 32.19, 1; Robin Sen (Del) 32.41, 2; Renukacharya Hodmani (Kar) 34.00, 3.

Girls: Group III: 50M freestyle: Vedika Amin (Mah) and Sanjiti Saha (Mah) 28.90 (NMR; Old: 29.41, Maana Patel, Guj, 2012) 1; Nina Venkatesh (Kar) 29.86, 3. 50M backstroke: Palak Dhami (Mah) 33.11, 1; Arya Thakkar (Guj) 34.30, 2; Tanusmita Das (Ben) 34.85, 3. 100M breaststroke: Vedika Amin (Mah) 1:18.63 (NMR; Old: 1:21.03, Vedika Amin, Mah, 2016) 1; Apeksha Fernandes (Mah) 1:22.76, 2; Aastha Bordoloi (Asm) 1:24.50, 3. 200M individual medley: Sanjiti Saha (Mah) 2:38.18, 1; Shakthi Balakrishnan (TN) 2:38.62, 2; Apeksha Fernandes (Mah) 2:40.68, 3. 4x50M medley relay: Maharashtra 2:11.24 (NMR; Old: 2:14.86, Maharashtra, 2016) 1; Karnataka 2:14.44, 2; Assam 2:20.06, 3.

Group IV: 100M freestyle: Jahnabi Kashyap (Asm) 1:07.27 (NMR; Old: 1:09.54, Palak Dhami, Mah, 2015) 1; Ridhima Kumar (Kar) 1:08.56, 2; Aashna Mattur (Kar) 1:08.96, 3. 50M butterfly: Rishika Mangale (Kar) 33.39, 1; Jahnabi Kashyap (Asm) 34.24, 2; Ridhima Kumar (Kar) 35.12, 3. 4x50M medley relay: Karnataka 2:30.24 (NMR; Old: 2:30.31, Karnataka, 2015) 1; Maharashtra 2:34.25, 2; Assam 2:37.58, 3.

Diving: Boys: Group II: High board: Willson Singh (Services) 291.15, 1; Om Awasthi (Mah) 276.20, 2; Satishkumar Prajapati (Services) 237.90, 3.

Group III: 3M spring board: Premson Meitei (Services) 299.75, 1; Prakhar Joshi (MP) 200.70, 2; Vadher Bhargav (Guj) 196.90, 3.

Girls: Group II: High board: Bilwa Giram (Mah) 210.30, 1; Jyotishree Laha (Ben) 203.15, 2; Marathe Titiksha (MP) 180.90, 3.

Group III: 3M spring board: Shubhangi Macharia (Mah) 177.10, 1; Megan Almeida (Goa) 173.70, 2; Mehek Jain (Mah) 135.95, 3.