Courtesy: Swimming Federation of India
Karnataka maintained its lead at the completion of Day 3 at the Glenmark 26th Sub Junior and 46th Junior National Aquatic Championships being held at Rajkot. Karnataka is at the top of the table with 20 golds, 28 silvers and 15 bronze medals. Maharashtra is a close second with a total of 18 golds, 9 silver and 16 bronze medals. Assam is third on the table with 12 golds, 6 silver and 4 bronze medals.
Shoan Ganguly of Goa moved a step closer to being crowned as the best swimmer in the boys Group II category by winning the 400m freestyle with a new national record of 04:07.56. Shoan led the pack comfortably throughout the race. Local boy Devansh Parmar won silver with a time of 04:17.88, while Sarvepalli Krishna Pranav of Tamil Nadu won bronze with a time of 04:24.62.
Sahil Laskar broke the record of the 50m backstroke Boys Group II twice on the day to win gold with a time of 00:28.55. Early leader Vissesh Parameshwar Sharma set the pace, but finished second with a time of 00:28.85. Devansh Parmar added another bronze for the hosts winning bronze with a time of 00:30.10. Both Shoan and Sahil are in contention for winning the best swimmer in the Boys Group II category.
The 400m freestyle for Girls Group II saw a neck and neck contest between Aanya Wala of Maharashtra and Bhavya Sachdeva of Delhi until the 350m mark of the race, when the race converted to a 50m dash. Aanya pulled away to be a stroke faster to shatter the existing record by nearly 4 seconds to win her second gold with a time of 04:31.99. Bhavya bettered the existing mark to win her second silver with a time of 04:32.40. Young Kiara Bangera from Maharashtra, who is a year younger than the top 2 swimmers, won a bronze with a time of 04:38.63
Annie Jain of Madhya Pradesh turned the clock back as she swam to a new national record in the 50m breast stroke for Girls Group I. Annie broke the national record in the morning to finish atop the heats with a time of 00:34.60. She repeated the performance in the evening and clinched gold with the same time. Arushi Manjunath of Karnataka swam an inspired race to win silver with a time of 00:35.59, while Kareena Shankta of Maharashtra won bronze with a time of 00:35.94
The result of the Boys 1500m perhaps was a foregone conclusion as Aryan Nehra of Gujarat, who previously clocked 15:38.56 and 15:40.89 in Malaysia and Singapore in the last two months, was expected to break the current national record comfortably. It seemed that Aryan had an off day today. He won his third individual gold with a time of 16:08.59. Aneesh Gowda swam a wonderful second half to win silver with a time of 16:37.12, while rapidly improving Anurag Singh of UP, who trains at the SAI Glenmark Academy at Delhi, claimed his third medal a bronze with a time of 16:52.64.
Swadesh Mondal reaffirmed his status as the premier exponent of breaststroke in the junior category by winning the 50m breaststroke in the Boys Group I category with a time of 00:31.43. Swadesh who trains as the SAI Glenmark Center at Delhi is unvanquished in the pool this meet and will challenge local boy Aryan Nehra for the best overall swimmer. M Athish of Tamil Nadu finished second with a time of 00:31.56, while Sreedip Mondal of Bengal claimed bronze with a time of 00:31.61. Swadesh and Aryan Nehra are competing for the best swimmer in the Boys Group I category.
Khushi Dinesh of Karnataka showed her brilliance and class as she comfortably justified her top billing by winning the 1500m freestyle in the Girls Group I with a time of 18:18.45. V Varsha and Divya Ghosh of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka won silver and bronze with times of 18:45.48 and 18:56.34.
The Boys Group III 100 m butterfly was a virtual dead heat with M Theeredu Samadev of Andhra Pradesh edging past Renukacharya Hodmani of Karnataka to win gold with a time of 01:11.72, while the silver medal was secured with a time of 01:11.87. Swaroop S Danuche of Karnataka won bronze with a time of 01:12.50
Subranshini Priyadarshini claimed yet another gold for Assam securing the gold comfortably in the 100 m butterfly in the Girls Group III category with a time of 01:13.41. Teammates Hansika R and Saba Suhana of Karnataka won the silver and bronze clocking 01:16.31 and 01.16.41 respectively.
Tanish George Mathew of Karnataka showed his class in securing the double by winning the 200m butterfly after winning the 100m butterfly in the Boys Group I category yesterday. Tanish easily won the race with a time of 02:04.07 leading the race from start to finish. Aryan Panchal of Gujarat put in a late effort to claim silver with a time of 02:08.23 while Bikram Changmai, who trains at the SAI Glenmark academy at Delhi and represented Assam, claimed his second bronze with a time of 02:08.74.
Kanya Nayyar of Madhya Pradesh lived up to her top billing by dominating the grueling 200m butterfly for Girls Group I to win gold with a time of 02:28.70, while early leader Saachi G of Karnataka won silver with a time of 02:29.35. Hema from Delhi swum an extremely fast last 50m to win bronze with a time of 02:30.60.
The challenging 200m breaststroke for the Boys Group II category saw a wonderful representation of pacing your race right, an absolute nail-biter with the top 3 medals separated by 0.2 seconds. The early leader and top seed Zainul Hussain led for the first 100m but was completely overshadowed by Vidith Shankar of Karnataka who took the lead and maintained it till the very end clocking 02:32.65. SAI Glenmark and Bengal swimmer Subhajeet Gupta finished a hair’s breadth behind Vidith to win silver with a time of 02:32.70. Adith Smaran Olety of Karnataka claimed bronze with a time of 02:32.65.
The last 200m race of the day, the girls 200 m Breaststroke for Girls Group II, saw Anushka Patil of Maharashtra show amazing racing sense as she perfectly timed her burst to win gold with a time of 02:49.19. Saanvi S Rao of Karnataka finished an extremely close second with a time of 02:49.28, while Zaara Jabbar of Maharashtra won bronze with a time of 02:49.98.
Top seed Manash Pratim Baishya of Assam emerged as the fastest swimmer in the Boys Group IV category by winning the 50m freestyle with a time of 00:30.90. Monish P V of Karnataka won silver with a time of 00:31.22, while M Yagna Sai of Andhra Pradesh won bronze with a time of 00:31.49
Dhinidhi Desinghu of Karnataka recovered from a slow start to emerge as the fastest female swimmer in the Group IV category winning the gold in the 50m freestyle with a time of 00:32.22. Janhavi Changmai had a strong finish to win silver with a time of 00:32.27, while early leader Anannya Nayak won bronze with a time of 00:32.43.
Sanskar Bhuyan of Assam claimed the honor of being the fastest swimmer in the boys Group III category winning gold in the 50m freestyle with a time of 00:29.23. Angshuman Kashyap of Assam claimed silver with a time of 00:30.39, while Heer Pitroda of Gujarat won bronze with a time of 00:30.82
The girls from Assam emulated the boys as they claimed both the gold and the silver in the Girls Group III 50m freestyle. Arista Saikia and Arhee Buragohain won gold and silver with times of 00:31.38 and 00:31.58 respectively. Aratrika Biswas of Maharashtra finished third with a time of 00:31.93
The boys 50m backstroke for Boys Group I saw Tanmay Das of Delhi, who trains at the SAI Glenmark Academy, lead from start to finish to beat the challenge of his clubmate the 200m backstroke gold medal winner Vedant Bapna, claiming gold with a time of 00:27.71. Vedant Bapna of Maharashtra, who trains at GAF Mumbai, claimed silver with a time of 00:28.04, while K Mohith Kumar claimed bronze with a time of 00:28.42.
Suvana Baskar shrugged off her indifferent form to comfortably win the 50m backstroke in the Girls Group I category with a time of 00:31.06. Shrungi Bandekar continued her fine form to win yet another medal for Goa claiming silver with a time of 00:32.34, while Jahnavi Goli of Telangana made a late surge to win bronze with a time of 00:32.71
Ridhima Virendra Kumar of Karnataka created an upset in the 50m backstroke for Girls Group II by winning gold with a time of 00:31.43. Favorites Nina Venkatesh of Karnataka and Palak Dhami of Maharashtra won silver and bronze clocking oo:31.84 and 00:32.43 respectively.
The morning relays saw the Maharashtra Girls Group II team swim an exhilarating race to claim gold in the 4X100m freestyle setting a national record of 04:09.54. Karnataka created a better meet record and claiming silver with a time of 04:09.82. Bengal came a distant third clocking 04:25.76.
The boys team from Maharashtra also won the gold in the Boys Group II 4X100m relay clocking a time of 03:55.87. Karnataka claimed silver with a time of 03:56.64, while Tamil Nadu won bronze with a time of 04:01.50
In the evening relays Karnataka won the 4X100 m freestyle relay for Boys Group I setting a national record with a time of 03:37.69. Tamil Nadu claimed silver with a time of 03:39.41, while Maharashtra settled for bronze with a time of 03:40.20.
In the final relay of the day the girls from Maharashtra led by golden girl Kenisha Gupta won gold in the 4X100m freestyle relay for Girls Group I clocking 04:11.28. Karnataka claimed silver with a time of 04:13.86, while Tamil Nadu claimed bronze with a time of 04:15.17.