Malavika wins 400M freestyle

 Karnataka’s quest to regain supremacy in the pool might have taken a blow after the State swimmers failed to live up to their expectations on the opening day of the 69th Senior National Aquatics Championship here at the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel swimming pool on Wednesday.

Freestyler Malavika V was the only bright spot for the State, keeping her composure to win the 400M freestyle gold, on a day that saw local favourite Maana Patel set a new national record in the 100M backstroke event.

The 17-year-old Malavika was in her elements as she took a slender lead in the opening 100 metres, while Maharashtra’s Monique Gandhi made sure that she kept the Karnataka swimmer on her toes in a closely fought race.

Pacing her race well, Malavika ensured that she had enough energy to hold on to the advantage, winning the race in 4:28.14. Monique, meanwhile, ran out of steam by the end as she saw Haryana girl Shivani Kataria touch the pad ahead of her in 4:30.19 to take the silver. Monique eventually finished a distant third in 4:32.81.

Gujarat’s Maana had no such trouble as she stamped her authority in the 100M backstroke in a record-breaking fashion.

The 15-year-old Ahmedabad girl, who dominated the race from the word go, won the gold in 1:04.83, improving upon her own mark of 1:05.47 set at the Kolkata meet a year ago. Maharashtra’s Jyotsna Pansare took the silver in 1:06.99, while Damini K Gowda of Karnataka settled for the bronze medal in 1:07.43.

Earlier in the day, rising star Sajan Prakash -- representing Railways -- got the proceedings of to a splendid start by winning the 400M freestyle in fine manner.

Sajan, who is currently training in Thailand under a FINA scholarship, took 3:57.22 to win the gold, while his team-mate Saurabh Sangvekar took the second spot in 3:58.71. Karantaka’s Avinash M completed the podium in 4:08.72.

Having already clocked an Olympic ‘B’ cut in this event -- set at 3:58.51 -- at the Asian-Age group meet early this month, the 22-year-old swimmer was expected to dominate the race from the start.

And there was no stopping Sajan as he took a comfortable two-second lead in the initial 100 metres and later kept up his pace to dictate terms.Though fellow Railways-man Saurabh showed enough resilience to put up a brave fight, he was no match for Sajan as he recorded a comfortable victory to pocket his first medal of the meet.


Results: Men: 400M freestyle: Sajan Prakash (Railways) 3:57.22, 1; Sourabh Sangvekar (Railways) 3:58.71, 2; Avinash M (Kar) 4:08.72.

100M backstroke: Madhu PS (Services) 58.67, 1; Sethu Manickavel T (Tamil Nadu) 59.81, 2; Vedant Seth (Delhi) 1:00.08, 3.

50M butterfly: Veerdhawal Khade (Mah) 24.50, 1; Anshul Kothari (Guj) 25.27, 2; Supriyo Mondal (Railways) 25.43, 3.

200M individual medley: Aaron D’Souza (Railways) 2:09.72, 1; Sanu Debanth (Railways) 2:10.41, 2; Arvind M (Kar) 2:16.79, 3.

4x100M freestyle relay: Railways 3:31.30, 1; Gujarat 3:35.38, 2; Maharashtra 3.35.89, 3.
Women: 400M Freestyle: Malavika V (Kar) 4:28.14, 1; Shivani Kataria (Har) 4:30.19, 2; Monique Gandhi (Mah) 4:34.81, 3.

100M backstroke: Maana Patel (Guj) 1:04.83 (NR; Old: 1:05.47, Maana Patel, Guj, 2014) 1; Jyotsna Pansare (Mah) 1:06.99. 2; Damini K Gowda (Kar) 1:07.43, 3.

50M butterfly: Jyotsna Pansare (Mah) 29.27, 1; Avantika Chavan (Mah) 29.37, 2; Damini K Gowda (Kar) 29.89, 3.

200M individual medley: Jayaveena AV (Tamil Nadu) 2:27.43, 1; Shraddha Sudhir (Kar) 2:30.16, 2; Sayani Gosh (Bengal) 2:31.16, 3.

4x100M freestyle relay: Maharashtra 4:05.52, 1; Karnataka 4:08.59, 2; Bengal 4:20.14, 3.