National Aquatic: Dominant Karnataka retains overall championship
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arnataka retained the overall championship title with 119 medals including 50 gold, 42 silver and 27 bronze while Maharashtra finished overall second with a total of 54 medals and Tamil Nadu ended their campaign with a total of 37 medals here at the 39th Sub Junior and 49th Junior National Aquatic Championship 2023.
The final day's proceedings at the swanky new Aquatic Centre of the Kalinga Sports Complex here on Sunday saw incredible performances with four new national records.
Palak Joshi of Maharashtra created a new national record in the 200metre backstroke for group I girls with a time of 221.38, pushing top contender Ridhima Veerendra Kumar of Karnataka to second place. While Ridhima clocked 222.51, Palak's gold medal-fetching swim also eclipsed Maana Patel's record of 221.41 set in the year 2015.
In another record-breaking performance, Vedanta V Madhir of Karnataka clocked 211.74 to erase the previous record of 211.97 held by Aaryan Bhosale in 200m backstroke for group II boys. Arnav Ramdas of Maharashtra finished second with a time of 215.27.
The closely-fought rivalry between state mates Tanishi Gupta and Dhinidhi Desinghu of Karnataka continued to unfold on the last day too with both swimmers producing a nail-biting finish in the 50m butterfly in group II girls. Tanishi clinched the gold by clocking 28.52 while Dhinidhi clocked 28.71. Both of them swam under the existing national record time of 28.86 held by Tanishi created earlier in the day. Interestingly, Dhinidhi previously held the record in this event created only last year.
Dhinidhi also created a new national record in 200m freestyle for group II girls with a time of 205.62, smashing the previous record of 210.81 created in 2019 by Bavya Sachdeva. Finishing second in this event was Karnataka's Sri Charani Tumu of Karnataka with a time of 212.20.
Total of 19 new national records were created in this edition
Elated with the performances and new records created in this edition of the Championships, Tushar Kanti Behera, Minister of Sports, Govt of Odisha said, "I am truly honoured to be here for the closing of the Aquatic National Championship, I hope athletes and swim parents have enjoyed being part of this event in the new facility and also enjoyed the hospitality of Odisha. I was filled with joy to learn that 19 new national records were created in this new Indoor Aquatic Centre. This facility was built under the leadership of visionary Hon. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The state-of-the-art Aquatic Centre is dedicated to the swimmers of this country and it reflects Odisha's commitment to promote and develop swimming and build champions of tomorrow."
"Over the past few days, we have seen incredible display of skill, determination and sportsmanship from our nation's finest swimmers in this category. My heartfelt gratitude to Swimming Federation of India, all the coaches, officials and volunteers who worked behind the scenes to make this event a big success," added Tushar Kanti Behera.
Yug Chelani, and Vritti Agarwal are among the best swimmers
Yug Chelani of Rajasthan was adjudged best swimmer in group I for his effort of winning 5 gold medals in the championships, while Ishaan Mehera was adjudged best swimmer in group II boys for having won 5 golds with two new national records in his name. Abdul Hafiz of Tamil Nadu was named best swimmer in group III for winning 3 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze. Among the girls, Vritti Agarwal of Telanga won the best swimmer award. She ended the campaign here with 4 golds, and 1 silver while Tanishi Gupta bagged the honours in group II with 4 gold, 1 silver and 3 national records to her name. Sanishi Mukherjee of Bengal walked away with the best swimmer title in group III for winning 3 gold medals.
Best Swimmer Awards
Boys
Group I Yug Chelani - 5 gold
Group II Ishaan Mehera - 5 gold, 2 NMR
Group III Abdul Hafiz 3 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze
Girls
Group I Vritti Agarwal 4 gold, 1 silver
Group II Tanishi Gupta 4 gold, 1 silver, 3 NMR
Group III Sanidhi Mukherjee - 3 gold
Results
Boys
Group I 200m freestyle 1. Yug Chelani 155.02; 2. Ronak N Sawant 156.14; 3. Tirthank Pegu 156.20
200m backstroke 1. Rishabh A Das 206.13; 2. Nithik Nathella 206.99; 3. Suhas PM 210.14
200m backstroke 1. Rishabh A Das 206.13; 2. Nithik Nathella 206.99; 3. Suhas PM 210.14
Group II
200m freestyle 1. Akshaj T 201.85; 2. Yuvraj Singh 202.08; 3. Monish PV 202.57
200m backstroke 1. Vedanta VM 211.74 NMR; 2. Arnav RK 215.27; 3. Idhant SC 215.79
Group III
50m backstroke 1. Krishiv Doshi 33.67; 2. Arya Sathar 34.00; 3. Vihaan SP 34.49
50m butterfly 1. Ajeet Yadav 31.13; 2. David S 31.57; 3. Abdul Hafeez 31.87
Girls
Group I 200m freestyle 1. Hashika Ramchandra 208. 35; 2. Vritti Agarwal 208.72; 3. Shirin 212.24
Group II 200m freestyle 1. Dhinidhi Desinghu 205.62; 2. Sri Charani 212.20; 3. Aditi S Hegde 212.32
200m backstroke 1. Naisha 224.71; 2. Sri Nithya Sagi 225.22; 3. Pramiti G 230.49
50m butterfly 1. Tanishi Gupta 28.52; 2. Dhinidhi D 28.71; 3. Jahnavi C 30.00
Group III 50m backstroke 1. Shreya Binil 33.20; 2. Shivani Karra 33.46; 3. Aradhya Thota 35.49
50m butterfly 1. Sanithi M 31.31; 2. Shivani Karra 32.45; 3. P Shashini 32.56.
✔️ National Aquatic: Dominant Karnataka retains overall championship
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