Records tumble on day 1 of junior national aquatic championships

On the inaugural day of the sub-junior and junior national aquatic championships, Sambhavv R from Karnataka surpassed the longstanding record of renowned Indian swimmer Srihari Nataraj in the 200m freestyle. This achievement was part of a day where three more national records were shattered.

Sambhavv completed the 200m freestyle for group I boys in an impressive 1:53.41 seconds, rewriting Nataraj’s three-year-old record of 1:53.54 seconds. Aneesh S Gowda, also from Karnataka, secured the second position with a timing of 1:53.54 seconds, while Vedaant Madhavan from Maharashtra claimed the bronze with a time of 1:55.93.

A thrilling contest unfolded in the 200m individual medley for group I boys, primarily between Bengal’s Swadesh Mondal and Shoan Ganguly of Karnataka. Despite Shoan’s initial lead in the butterfly leg, Mondal caught up during the backstroke and seized the lead in the breaststroke segment. In the end, Mondal touched first with a time of 2:08.88, while Shoan settled for silver with a time of 2:09.05. Notably, both swimmers surpassed the national record time of 2:10.26 set in 2018 by Neel Roy of Maharashtra.

In the 200m freestyle for group III girls, Karnataka’s Dhinidhi Desinghu made history by breaking an 11-year-old national record set in 2010 by Monique Gandhi of Maharashtra. Dhinidhi secured the gold with a time of 2:14.94 seconds, while Aditi Hegde of Maharashtra claimed silver in 2:23.93, and Shakthi Ishwar Prasad of Tamil Nadu took the bronze with a time of 2:24.77.