Sajan smashes 1500M freestyle mark

Sajan Prakash rewrote the national record in the 1500M freestyle and Veerdhaval Khade made a smashing return to the pool on the second day of the 68th Senior National Aquatic Championship here on Thursday.

Prakash raced to the gold medal in 15:45.83, sinking the mark of 15:51.10 set by Saruabh Sangvekar in 2011.

Sangvekar, who switched over from Karnataka to Maharashtra this time, was second in 16:00.58.

Khade, who took a break to focus on his official duties, showed he was sharp enough to tower above his compatriots in the 50M freestyle.

The Maharashtrian clocked 23.14 seconds to edge out Railways’ Aaron D’Souza for the gold. Khade’s national record stands at 22.55 seconds.

As Railways’ Prakash and Maharashtra’s Khade enjoyed a bright evening, there was little joy for defending champions Karnataka as a gold medal eluded them for the second straight day.

Malavika V won the silver in the women’s 200M freestyle and Arvind M picked up the bronze in the 200M backstroke -- the only medals for Karnataka on the day.

Malavika timed 2:09.07 to come behind Haryana’s Shivani Kataria (2:08.15) while Arvind’s bronze came in 2:09.66 as he finished behind Maharashtra’s Rohit Havaldar (2:07.73) and Services’ Madhu P S (2:08.68).

Asian Games bronze medallist Sandeep Sejwal ruled the 50M breast stroke, finishing comfortably ahead of Police’s Puneet Rana.

The Delhi swimmer, competing for Railways, timed 28.69 against Puneet’s 29.35.

Results:

50M freestyle: Veerdhaval Khade (Maharashtra) 23.14 seconds, 1; Aaron D’Souza (Railways) 23.40, 2; Anshul Kothari (Gujarat) 23.60, 3.

1500M freestyle: Sajan Prakash (Railways) 15:45.83 (NR. Old: 15:51.10, Saurabh Sangvekar, 2011), 1; Saurabh Sangvekar (Maharashtra) 16:00.58, 2; Sanu Debnath (Railways) 16:20.61, 3.

50M breast stroke: Sandeep Sejwal (Railways) 28.69 seconds, 1; Puneet Rana (Police) 29.35, 2; Arjun J P (Railways) 29.51, 3.

200M backstroke: Rohit Havaldar (Maharashtra) 2:07.73, 1; Madhu P S (Services) 2:08.68, 2; Arvind M (Karnataka) 2:09.66, 3.

Women:

200M freestyle: Shivani Kataria (Haryana) 2:08.15, 1; Malavika V (Karnataka) 2:09.07, 2; Aditi Dhumatkar (Maharashtra) 2:09.22, 3.

50M breast stroke: A V Jayaveena (Tamil Nadu) 35.34 seconds, 1; Chahat Arora (Chandigarh) 36.34, 2; Poorva Shetye (Maharashtra) 36.52, 3.

400M individual medley: Richa Mishra (Police) 5:07.00, 1; V K R Meenakshi (Tamil Nadu) 5:21.23, 2; Sayani Ghosh (Bengal) 5:24.04, 3.

Diving (men): High board: Tushar Gitaye (Railways) 335.35 points, 1; Ch Pushkar Meitei (Services) 321.05, 2; Gaurav Raghuwanshi (MP) 299.40, 3.