Swimming: Records tumble at Sub-junior and Junior National Championships

Four national swimming records were broken on the opening day of the 37th Sub Junior and 47th Junior National Aquatic Championships in Bengaluru on Tuesday.

Hosts Karnataka ensured records tumbled on Day 1 as they sizzled in the pool right from the first race.

Sambhavv R of Karnataka bettered Olympian Srihari Nataraj’s three-year-old national record of 1:53.54s in the 200m freestyle event for group I boys.

Sambhavv, trained by coach Jairajan AC, touched the pads in 1:53.41s. He maintained a good pace right from the start and was well ahead of Karnataka's Aneesh S Gowda. Aneesh fought hard in the last 50m but remained a tad slower in his finish as he clocked 1:53.54s. Vedaant Madhavan of Maharashtra took home the bronze medal with a time of 1:55.93s.

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Delighted over creating a national record in the 200m freestyle event, an elated Sambhavv said:

“I am very thrilled to break Srihari’s record. It was a good race and Aneesh really pushed me particularly in the last 50m.”

Talking about Sambhavv’s preparations for the National Championships, coach Jairajan said a lot of emphasis was made on fitness when swimming pools were shut due to the pandemic.

"We focused a lot on dry land exercises during the lockdown months as the swimming pools were shut," he said. "We ensured his fitness was maintained and once the pools opened, we trained in a short course pool which helped him a lot. We kept the national record in mind and worked towards achieving it. This is his personal best, so I am quite happy with his race.”

Sambhavv will take part in 50m and 100m freestyle swimming and 50m and 100m butterfly swimming events later in the championship.

More swimming records broken

Meanwhile, Swadesh Mondal of West Bengal won the 200m individual medley with a time of 2:08.88s while Shoan Ganguly of Karnataka closely followed Mondal with a time of 2:09.05s.

Both the swimming sensations broke the national record of 2:09.05s, set by Neel Roy of Maharashtra in 2018.

Shoan was well ahead after the first 50m in the butterfly leg, his pet event, while Mondal caught up in the backstroke leg and took the lead in the third 50m of breaststroke. Although Shoan made a fantastic effort in the last 50m swimming in the freestyle leg, Mondal managed to take the lead again and finish ahead of Shoan.

Kalp S. Bohra of Karnataka won the bronze medal with a time of 2:12.61s.

In the 200m swimming freestyle for group III girls, Dhinidhi Desinghu of Karnataka broke an 11-year-old national record of 2:17.52 held by Monique Gandhi of Maharashtra. Dhinidhi clocked 2:14.94s to win the gold medal while Aditi Hegde of Maharashtra settled for silver with a time of 2:23.93. Shakthi Ishwar Prasad of Tamil Nadu Swimming Academy clocked 2:24.77s to take home the bronze medal.