Champs Karnataka inch towards retaining title

Reigning champions Karnataka looked set to retain their title at the 44th Junior National Aquatic Championships with another fine performance at the Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex here on Wednesday.

On the penultimate day of the meet when the senior swimmers failed to deliver expected results, a little-known Tanish Mathew took control of the proceedings with a fine performance to win the Group II, 100M butterfly in record time. He later joined forces with Prasidha Krishna, Litheesh Gowda and Abhay Kumar to anchor the State to victory in the 4x200M freestyle relay.

In his butterfly final though, Tanish was slow to start. He swam hard to stay with the leader and his State-mate Prasidha till the 50-metre mark. He then accelerated from there on to surge ahead and win the gold in 58.37 seconds. The timing helped him better the previous meet mark of 59.23 seconds held by Goa’s Xavier D’Souza.

“That was the plan. I wanted to stay with him (Prasidha) till the turn and then take a quick turn to build the lead. I am happy that I could execute the plan properly,” said the swimmer who trains under former national coach Pradeep Kumar in Dubai.

Maharashtra’s Mihir Ambre also dished out a quality display en route his win in the Group I, 100M butterfly final, breaking a nine-year-old record in the process.

The 17-year-old clocked 55.65 seconds for the gold, obliterating the previous best of 55.96 seconds held by the Asian Games-medallist Veerdhawal Khade which he had set in 2008.

State side in final
There was more cheer reserved of the Karnataka camp as their girls team recorded a comfortable 7-4 win over Maharashtra to move into the final of the waterpolo event.

Starting the game on a strong note, the State team took a 2-1 lead in the first quarter. Though Maharashtra leveled the proceedings through a Mahima Moses goal in the second quarter, Karnataka were quick to assert their supremacy with Swarna Rachana converting a penalty in the second quarter.

The third quarter saw Karnataka dominated the game with Shivani Reddy and Kankana Bhide scoring goals apiece. Though Mahima pulled one back for Maharashtra later, that’s all her side could manage as Karnataka went on to seal their place in the final on Thursday.

The State side will take on Bengal for the title. Bengal beat Kerala 7-3 in the semifinal earlier in the day.

Results: Swimming: Group I: 50M freestyle: Mihir Ambre (Mah) 24.41, 1; Neel Roy (Mah) 24.57, 2; Samit Sejwal (Del) 24.63, 3.

800M freestyle: Advait Page (UP) 8:25.35, 1; Sushrut Kapse (Mah) 8:36.10, 2; Kushagra Rawat (Del) 8:41.38, 3.

50M breaststroke: Danush S (TN) 30.76, 1; Manav Dileep (Kar) 30.91, 2; Milanton Dutta (Asm) 31.02, 3.

100M butterfly: Mihir Ambre (Mah) 55.65 (NMR; Old: 55.96, Veerdhawal Khade, Mah, 2008) 1; Xavier D’Souza (Goa) 57.17, 2; Rahul M (Kar) 57.58, 3.

400M individual medley: Advait Page (MP) 4:41.37 (NMR; Old: 4:41.60, Arvind Mani, Hyd, 2013) 1; Sanskar Tokas (Del) 4:51.69, 2; Hemanth Jenukal (Kar) 4:53.98, 3.

4x200M freestyle relay: Karnataka 7:57.07 (NMR; Old: 8:04.39, Maharashtra, 2016), 1; Maharashtra 7:58.69, 2; Tamil Nadu 8:19.70, 3.

Group II: 50M freestyle: Vikkas P 24.76 (NMR; Old: 25.39, Viraj Prabhu, Mah, 2012) 1; Veer Khatkar (Har) 25.74, 2; Prasidha Krishna (Kar) 25.91, 3.

50M breaststroke: Swadesh Mondal (Ben) 33.07, 1; Athish M (TN) 33.79, 2; Hiten Mittal (Kar) 33.81, 3.

100M butterfly: Tanish Mathew (Kar) 58.37 (NMR; Old: 59.23, Xavier D’Souza, Goa, 2015) 1; Prasidha Krishna (Kar) 59.55, 2; Param Birthare (MP) 1:00.56, 3.

400M individual medley: Swadesh Mondal (Ben) 4:49.33 (NMR; Old: 4:50.28, Neel Roy, Mah, 2015) 1; Aaryan Bhosale (Mah) 4:57.74, 2; Aryan Nehra (Guj) 5:00.29, 3.

4x200M freestyle relay: Karnataka 8:35.44, 1; Maharashtra 8:37.45, 2; Assam 8:46.39, 3.
Girls: Group I: 50M freestyle: Sadhvi Dhuri (Mah) 27.89, 1; Preethi B (TN) 28.13, 2; Annie Jain (MP) 28.16, 3.

1500M freestyle: Abishiktha PM (TN) 18:35.65, 1; Dhruti Muralidhar (Kar) 18:47.47, 2; Prachi Tokas (Del) 18:54.26, 3.

100M backstroke: Trisha Karkhanis (Mah) 1:07.90, 1; Pratyasha Ray (Odh) 1:09.11, 2; Jhanati Rajesh (Kar) 1:09.52, 3.

50M breaststroke: Aaliyah Singh (UP) 35.47, 1; Saloni Dalal (Kar) 35.59, 2; Riddhi Bohra (Kar) 35.67, 3.
200M butterfly: Trisha Karkhanis (Mah) 9:42.46, 1; Firdoush Kayamkhami (Raj) 2:32.25, 1; Anubhuti Baruah (Asm) 2:32.37, 3.

4x200M freestyle relay: Maharashtra 9:17.54, 1; Karnataka 9:23.45, 2; Tamil Nadu 9:43.24, 3.
4x100M medley relay: Karnataka 4:43.03, 1; Maharashtra 4:50.87, 2; Tamil Nadu 4:55.50, 3.
Group II: 50M freestyle: Kenisha Gupta (Mah) 27.94, 1; Mahi Raj (Bhr) 28.60, 2; Liyana Umer (Ker) 28.60, 3.

800M freestyle relay: Khushi Dinesh (Kar) 9:42.12, 1; Poojitha Murthy (Kar) 9:47.77, 1; Astha Choudhary (Asm) 9:48.67, 3.

50M breaststroke: Adithi Balaji (TN) 36.69, 1; Madhura BG (Kar) 37.05, 2; Rachana Rao (Kar) 37.31, 3.

100M backstroke: Tanisha Malviya (Del) 1:07.77, 1; Suvana Baskar (Kar) 1:08.95, 2; Shrungi Bandekar (Goa) 1:09.31, 3.

200M butterfly: Saachi G (Kar) 2:33.52, 1; Riniki Bordoloi (Del) 2:33.68, 2; Saee Patil (Mah) 2:36.71, 3.

4x200M freestyle relay: Karnataka 4:43.03, 1; Maharashtra 9:23.81, 2; Tamil Nadu 9:40.96, 3.
4x100M medley relay: Karnataka 4:45.53 (NMR; Old: 4:50.13, Karnataka, 2012) 1; Maharashtra 4:50.14, 2; Goa 5:01.45, 3.

Waterpolo (Semifinals): Boys: Bengal: 5 bt Kerala: 1; Maharashtra: 10 bt Karnataka: 0.
Girls: Bengal: 7 bt Kerala: 3; Karnataka: 7 bt Maharashtra: 4.