Sajan sets new mark in National aquatics

RANCHI: Sajan Prakash stole the limelight on Day 2 of the 70th Senior National Aquatic Championships here on Sunday. The Rio Olympian left the field behind en route a national record in men's 200m butterfly event at the Veer Budhu Bhagat Aquatics Stadium.
His timing of 1:59.13 helped him better his own mark of 1:59.27 set in Hong Kong earlier this year.
“I did not want to participate at the Seniors as I wanted some rest after the Olympics.But I came here, even without adequate training, as I wanted to be consistent for the Asian meet in November,” Sajan said.
Sajan was certainly not the only hero. Railways' Sandeep Sejwal maintained his grip in 50m breaststroke with a timing of 28.69 seconds. Asian Games bronze medalist then helped his team win gold with a new meet record in the 4x100m medley relay with a timing of 3:48.95. The previous mark of 3:50.82 was also set by Railways in 2015.
In men's 400m freestyle, Railways' Saurabh Sangvekar added another gold medal to his tally after winning the 200m freestyle on the opening day. In the women's events, Monique Gandhi of Maharashtra clinched gold in the 1500m freestyle while Karnataka's Damini K Gowda won the yellow metal in 200m butterfly. Chandigarh's Chahat Arora won the 50m breaststroke gold as Maharashtra team won top honours in the 4x100m medley relay.