National swimming records proceed to tumble, as on Thursday, girl Ridhima Veerendrakumar broke Maana Patel’s 7-year-old record in the 100m backstroke event at the 37th Sub-Junior and 47th Junior National Aquatic Championship.
The Karnataka swimmer came up with an outstanding performance in the 100m backstroke swimming event for group II girls, where she timed 1:04.87s to eliminate Maana Patel’s timing of 1:05.30s.
Ridhima’s effort fetched her a gold medal and added another to the hosts’ kitty.
Swimmer Shalini R Dixit of Karnataka ended 2nd clocking 1:08.63s while Sri Nitya Sagi of Telangana completed the platform by finishing 3rd with a time of 1:10.14s.Ridhima was elated about breaking the national record. She said after the feast:
“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
Another thrilling race on Thursday, swimmer Sambhavv R of Karnataka earned his 2nd gold medal of the swimming nationals when he rimmed past Bikram Changmai of Assam in the 100m butterfly for group I boys. Sambhaav clocked 55.87s to finish ahead of Changmai, who ended in 55.92s. The 3rd 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 by Assam Girl
Assam’s girl 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 improved in her own efforts in the heats, where she had a 1:03.58s performance.
Astha Choudhary wiped out 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 breaststroke, 200m medley and 50m backstroke on Day 1.