Swimming: Ridhima, Astha, Sambhavv shine on another record-breaking day at the Sub-Junior and Junior National Aquatic Championship

National swimming records continue to tumble as Ridhima Veerendrakumar broke Maana Patel's seven-year-old record in the 100m backstroke event at the 37th Sub-Junior and 47th Junior National Aquatic Championship on Thursday.

The Karnataka swimmer came up with a sensational performance in the 100m backstroke swimming event for group II girls, where she clocked 1:04.87s to erase Maana Patel's timing of 1:05.30s.

Ridhima's effort also fetched her a gold medal and added another to the hosts' kitty.

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Shalini R Dixit of Karnataka finished second, clocking 1:08.63s while Sri Nitya Sagi of Telangana completed the podium by finishing third with a time of 1:10.14s.

Ridhima was elated about breaking the national record. After the feat, she said:

"It was a good race and I'm quite excited to create a new national record. I still have a 50m backstroke event and I hope to do well in that event too."

Another gold medal for swimming sensation Sambhavv

In another thrilling race on Thursday, Sambhavv R of Karnataka won his second gold medal of the swimming nationals when he edged past Bikram Changmai of Assam in the 100m butterfly for group I boys.

Sambhavv clocked 55.87s to finish ahead of Changmai, who ended in 55.92s. The third place went to Harsh Saroha of Haryana, who touched the pads with a time of 55.98s.

Though Sambhavv was mighty pleased with the effort, he missed the national record of 55.65s held by Maharashtra's Mihir Ambre created in 2017. After the race, he said:

"It feels good to win another gold medal, I knew it would be a very close race but my coach Jairajan prepared me mentally for the challenge. I knew I had to swim faster in the second 50m and that's what I did."

National record in 100m swimming event broken

Assam's Astha Choudhary ensured she didn't miss her target of breaking a national record in the 100m butterfly for group I girls after clocking 1:02.71s. She bettered her own efforts in the heats, where she had an 1:03.58s performance. In the process, Astha Choudhary broke Damini Gowda's national record of 1:04.66s, created in 2016.

Astha was given a tough fight by Maharashtra's Apeksha Fernendes (1:02.81s) and Karnataka's Nina Venkatesh (1:03.78s) all of whom were faster than the previous national record timing.

Jas Singh of Karnataka, meanwhile, won his fourth individual gold medal in the 100m freestyle for group V boys. He clinched the gold medal in 100m breast stroke, 200m medley and 50m backstroke on Day 1.

Jas beat Monish Naidu P of Tamil Nadu Swimming Academy with a time of 1:09.47s while Naidu clocked 1:13.18s to take home the silver medal. S Someshwar won the bronze medal with a time of 1:13.72s.

Jas, who trains with former international swimming icon and Ekalavya awardee Shreesh Reddy, is well on his way to winning the individual title too.