Damini K. Gowda and Mayuri Lingaraj lit up the third day of the Glenmark junior National aquatic championships, breaking the girls’ Group 1 and 2 100m butterfly records at the Basavangudi Aquatic Centre. Both records fell in the space of five minutes here on Thursday evening, with the two Karnataka swimmers head and shoulders above their peers.
Damini, who last year had established the 100 and 200m butterfly records in Pune, was widely expected to improve on both here. The 17-year-old was unable to lower her record in the 200m on Wednesday, but she would not be denied in the 100, clocking 1:04.66 against the existing mark of 1:04.78.
“It was too cold yesterday,” Damini complained later. “The weather fluctuates a lot here. But today, it was sunny and my body was OK.”
Mayuri, whose race came immediately after Damini's, erased the latter’s record in Group 2 (1:06.61) that had stood since 2012. The 14-year-old finished in a time of 1:05.98, comfortably inside the mark, despite a poor start. “I’m always a weak starter,” she admitted later. “But I caught up near the turn.” She more than caught up, cruising home over 2.5 seconds ahead of her nearest competitor.
Mayuri and Damini later starred in Karnataka’s relay wins in the Group 1 and 2 girls’ 4x200m freestyle events, taking their medal count to give golds each.
The day’s third individual record was set by Goa’s Xavier D’Souza in the Group 1 boys’ 50m backstroke event, where he upset the home State’s N. Srihari.
The results:
Swimming: Boys: Group 1: 100m freestyle: 1. Rutvik Bhatt (Guj) 54.19, 2. Ishaan Jaffer (Mah) 54.67, 3. Saumya Vora (Mah) 55.08; 50m backstroke: 1. Xavier D’Souza (Goa) 27.58, NMR (Old: 27.65, Vedant Seth, Del, 2015), 2. N. Srihari (Kar) 28.45, 3. Sandeep Huger (MP) 29.49; 400m IM: 1. Neel Roy (Mah) 4:42.50, 2. Shivaksh Sahu (Cht) 4:46.80, 3. Advait Page (MP) 4:49.54; 4x200m freestyle relay: 1. Maharashtra 8:04.39, NMR (Old: 8:07.68, Karnataka, 2015), 2. Karnataka 8:04.61, 3. Delhi 8:24.29.
Group 2: 100m freestyle: 1. C.J. Sanjay (Kar) 55.60, 2. Rudransh Mishra (Mah) 57.53, 3. Prasidha Krishna (Kar) 58.34; 400m IM: 1. Sanskar Tokas (Del) 4:53.53, 2. P. Kushal (Kar) 4:55.16, 3. H. Ahmed Azraq (TN) 5:08.96; 50m backstroke: 1. Tanmay Das (Del) 29.88, 2. D. Adhithya (TN) 29.93, 3. Siddharth Joshi (Kar) 30.21; 4x200m freestyle relay: 1. Karnataka 8:26.90, NMR (Old: Karnataka, 8:34.86, 2014), 2. Tamil Nadu 8:48.53, Maharashtra 9:05.43.
Girls: Group 1: 1500m freestyle: 1. Rayna Saldhana (Mah) 18:33.72, 2. H.M. Preksha (Kar) 18:46.53, 3. Bhavika Dugar (TN) 18:57.46; 50m backstroke: 1. Nivya Raja (TN) 31.89, 2. Birnale Yuga (Mah) 32.12, 3. Jhanati Rajesh (Kar) 32.97; 100m butterfly: 1. Damini K. Gowda (Kar) 1:04.66, NMR (Old: Damini K. Gowda 1:04.78, 2015), 2. Trisha Karkhanis (Mah) 1:06.78, 3. Suman D. Patil (Goa) 1:07.50; 4x200m freestyle relay: 1. Karnataka 9.10.31, 2. Maharashtra 9:16.78, 3. Bengal 9:23.31.
Group 2: 800m freestyle: 1. Tanuj Trina (Tel) 9:43.18, 2. Khushi DInesh (Kar) 9:43. 94, 3. S.S. Nandini (Kar) 10:02.60; 50m backstroke: 1. Pratyasha Ray (Odi) 32.87, 2. R. Jaahnavi (TN) 32.97, 3. Goli Jahnavi (Tel) 33.03; 100m butterfly: 1. Mayuri Lingaraj (Kar) 1:05.98, NMR (Old: Damini K. Gowda 1:06.61, 2012), 2. Anubhuthi Baruah (Asm) 1:08.60, 3. Priyanga Pugazharasu (TN) 1:09.28s; 4x200m freestyle relay: 1. Karnataka 9:24.20, Maharashtra 9:37.76, Tamil Nadu 9:59.42. Water Polo: Boys: Karnataka bt Gujarat 7-2; Bengal bt Punjab 10-3; Manipur bt Delhi 13-4; Maharashtra bt Kerala 11-9; Girls: Bengal drew with Kerala 10-10; Maharashtra drew with Kerala 2-2.
