Bhubaneswar: Rana Pratap helped Jharkhand bag their first individual gold medal at the 39th Sub Junior and 49th Junior National Aquatic Championships 2023 here with a sensational swim in the 200m breaststroke for group I boys. He clocked 2:21.88 to create the new national record.
He erased Swadesh Mondal’s record of 2:22.29 created in 2021. Rana finished ahead of Vidith S Shankar of Karnataka who was a no match in the race for gold. Vidith clocked 2:24.31 to settle for silver.
With two more days of action left at the swanky new Aquatic Centre here in Bhubaneswar’s iconic Kalinga Sports Complex, Karnataka remained poised to defend their overall championship title with as many as 32 gold medals, 28 silver and 17 bronze while Tamil Nadu have 7 gold, 5 silver and 10 bronze and Maharashtra have 6 gold, 15 silver and 13 bronze medals.
Karnataka girls continued to showcase top form in their respective races and also tumbled a few national records – adding to their state’s pride and prestige at the event.
Hashika Ramachandra added another gold medal to her kitty, with a record time, in 400m individual medley. She rewrote Shakthi B’s record of 5:11.77 by clocking 5:08.50. She was a couple of strokes ahead of state mate S Lakshya who finished second with a time of 5:12.75.
In another record-breaking performance of the day, Tanishi Gupta of Karnataka clocked 1:02.21 to beat state mate Dhinidhi Desinghu and create a new national record in 100m butterfly for group II girls. The record 1:05.51 was previously held by Hashika Ramachandra created in 2021. Interestingly, Dhinidhi also improved the national record by clocking 1:04.03.
Ridhima Veerendra, although missed Maana Patel’s record in 50m backstroke for group I girls, comfortable won the race. She timed 30.08, narrowly missing the record time of 30.03 created in 2015. Sagnika Roy of Bengal finished behind with a time of 31.25.
Ishaan Mehera of Karnataka also dominated in his age group with two gold medals today. He won the 50m backstroke clocking 28.45, while state mate Idhant Shashwat bagged silver with time of 29.05. Ishaan also won the 100m freestyle for group II boys. He clocked 54.85 while Nibir Hazarika took home the silver with 56.12 on the clock.
Punjab’s Jasnoor Kaur took the crowd by surprise as she came up with a brilliant swim in the 50m freestyle for group I girls. While she broke the national record of 27.11 held by Shivani Kataria in the prelims earlier in the day with a time of 27.01, she won the gold in the final with a time of 27.28. She beat Alefiya SD of Maharashtra with time of 27.40.
Telangana’s Vritti Agarwal bagged a gold for her home state in the 800m freestyle. Though she came nowhere close to her own national record of 9:10.32, she comfortably won the race finishing ahead of Aditi N Mulav of Karnataka. She clocked 9:20.25 while Aditi timed 9:34.99.
–IANS