Karnataka clinch overall championship again

Apeksha Fernandes (left) of Maharashtra and Srihari Nataraj of Karnataka won the best women and men swimmer award. DH Photo

Karnataka continued their iron-clad grip on the national championship as they won the 27th overall championship at the 74th National Aquatic Championships concluded at the Basavanagudi Aquatic Centre here on Friday.

Karnataka finished atop the medals tally with 17 gold, 10 silver and nine bronze medals for a total of 36 medals. They aggregated 300 points. Maharashtra finished in the second spot with five gold, 12 silver and four bronze medals followed by Delhi with five gold, two silver and bronze medals apiece.

Pre-tournament favourite Srihari ended as the best male swimmer with five individual gold medals (nine including relays), a silver and three meet records, the last of which came on Friday. Young Maharashtra swimmer Apeksha Fernandes was adjudged the best women's swimmer with three gold and two silver medals.

Srihari's third record came in the 200m freestyle event. He stopped the clock with a time of 1:49.78, to better Sajan Prakash's previous best time of 1:50.35. Kushagra Rawat of Delhi, who had dominated the longer freestyle events, finished second with a time of 1:52.24, ahead of Tanish George Mathew (1:52.34) of Karnataka.

Srihari also won the gold medal in 200m backstroke, clocking 2:04.20 to sweep the backstroke events.

“I came with a plan for 10 gold medals in 10 events. I ended with nine. Railways did a very good relay swim to beat us, so fair play to them. It's part of sport,” said the Olympian.

Ridhima Veerendra Kumar of Karnataka also did a clean sweep in the backstroke events, winning the 200m race with a time of 2:21.58. She finished over three seconds ahead of Soubriti Mondal of Bengal, who came in second.

The day's other meet record went to Sajan Prakash, with the Olympian bettering his own mark in the 100m butterfly event. The Police swimmer touched the pad in 53.24 seconds, bettering the previous record of 53.46.

Karnataka's Shoan Ganguly clinched an individual medley double, winning the 400m event, with a time of 4:30.52, just 39 milliseconds off Rehan Poncha's 12-year-old record. State-mate Siva S finished second, nearly six seconds behind.

Short course Worlds team

Meanwhile, the Indian contingent for the 15th FINA World Short Course Championships in Abu Dhabi was also announced on Friday by the Swimming federation of India.

Srihari, Sajan qualified with ‘A qualifying time’ while Kushagra made the team with ‘B qualifying time’. Ridhima will also join the team, on the back of having the highest FINA points at the Nationals.

Results: Men: 200m freestyle: Srihari Nataraj (Kar) 1:49.78 (NMR, OR: Sajan Prakash 1:50.35, 2018), 1; Kushagra Rawat (Del) 1:52.24, 2; Tanish George Mathew (Kar) 1:52.34, 3.

200m backstroke: Srihari Nataraj (Kar) 2:04.20, 1; Utkarsh Santosh Patil (Kar) 2:06.78, 2; Siddhant Sejwal (Del) 2:09.82, 3.

100m breaststroke: Lohit M (RSPB) 1:04.24, 1; Danush S (TNSA) 1:04.25, 2; Arun S (SSCB) 1:04.75, 3.

100m butterfly: Sajan Prakash (Pol) 53.24 (NMR, OR: Sajan Prakash 53.46, 2018), 1; Mihir Ambre (Mah) 54.93, 2; Adhithya D (TNSA) 55.72, 3.

400m medley: Shoan Ganguly (Kar) 4:30.52, 1; Siva S (Kar) 4:36.38, 2; Sai Nihar Bikkina (Tel) 4:42.28, 3.

Women: 200m freestyle: Shivangi Sarma (Asm) 2:07.10, 1; Shivani Kataria (Har) 2:10.46, 2; Aanya Wala (Mah) 2:11.69, 3.

200m backstroke: Ridhima Veerendra Kumar (Kar) 2:21.58, 1; Soubriti Mondal (Ben) 2:24.85, 2; Shrungi Rajesh Bandekar (Goa) 2:28.27, 3.

100m breaststroke: Chahat Arora (Pun) 1:17.01, 1; Harishitha Jayaram (RSPB) 1:17.57, 2; Lineysha AK (Kar) 1:17.77, 3.

100m butterfly: Apeksha Fernandes (Mah) 1:03.38, 1; Astha Choudhury (Asm) 1:03.83, 2; Divya Satija (Har) 1:04.55, 3.

400m medley: Richa Mishtra (Pol) 5:14.69, 1; Kanya Nayyar (MP) 5:15.63, 2; Shakthi Balakrishnan (TNSA) 5:17.34, 3.

Overall champions: Karnataka (300 points).

Men's champions: Karnataka (119 points). Women's champions: Karnataka (77 points).

Best swimmer: Men: Srihari Nataraj. Women: Apeksha Fernandes.

Diving: Team champions: Men: winner: SSCB (29 points); Runner-up: RSPB (16 points)

Women: Winner: RSPB (19 points); Runner-up: Police (17 points).

Water polo: Women: Maharashtra 11 bt Karnataka 8; Kerala 16 bt Police 10.

Men: RSPB 14 bt SSCB 12.

Standings: Men: RSPB, 1; SSCB, 2; Kerala, 3.

Women: Kerala 1; Police 2; Maharashtra 3.