Mangaluru, Sep 12: Nithik Nathella, Danush Suresh, B Benedicton Rohit, and Adhithya Dinesh created a National Meet Record for Tamil Nadu by clocking 3:45.66 in the Men’s 4 x 100m Medley relay on third day of the 77th Senior National Aquatic Championships 2024. They eclipsed the record of 3:47.22 set by the Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) back in 2022. Karnataka’s Akash Mani, Vidith S Shankar, Kartikeyan Nair, and Srihari Nataraj also broke the record clocking 3:46.09 but finished second today.
The International Aquatic Complex in Yemmekere, Mangaluru also witnessed Karnataka’s Aneesh S Gowda pull away from the rest of the pack as early as the second lap of the Men’s 1500m Freestyle. Dharshan S, also from Karnataka, followed him while the rest of the participants gradually fell behind. With five laps left in the race, Aneesh had opened a fair advantage and went on to finish first comfortably with a time of 16:06.11. Dharshan S came in second at 16:16.83.
In the Women’s 800m Freestyle, Telangana’s Vritti Agarwal pulled the trigger in the very first lap and went on to claim the top spot in 9:16.14. Bhavya Sachdeva, Shirin, and Sri Charani Tumu were neck and neck behind Vritti till the final lap. It was Delhi’s Bhavya who edged out the competition in the final lap to finish second with 9:19.74.
Railway Sports Promotion Board’s Bikram Changmai and Dhanush S went head to head in the 200m Butterfly, trading marginal leads in the first round. However, Harsh Saroha, from Haryana, peaked on the third lap to force himself into contention but Bikram Changmai pulled away in the last lap to win with 2:02.76. While Harsh came in second with 2:03.95.
The Women’s 200m Butterfly saw Astha Choudhury, Hashika Ramachandra, and Vritti Agarwal engage in a three-way battle from the very first round. Karnataka’s Hashika, in a last moment burst of speed, confirmed her third gold medal in the competition with a time of 2:21.16. Vritti Agarwal, from Telangana, followed her closely in second place with a time of 2:21.89.
Women’s 50m Backstroke winner Soubrity Mondal was elated after her performance and said, “I just wanted to swim as fast as possible and record my personal best. It feels great to win. I have 200m backstroke coming up tomorrow and I want to get my personal best again, a medal is just a consequence,” after the race.
