14-year-old swimmer Ridhima impresses; Srihari, Rawat also win

Express News Service

BENGALURU: Srihari Nataraj and Kushagra Rawat impressed on the opening day of the senior national aquatic championship in Bengaluru on Tuesday. The former set a national record in the 100m backstroke, clocking 55.10s erasing his own record of 55.63s, registered in 2019.

In the first final of the evening, it was Rawat, who came up with a dominant race, breaking the 400m freestyle record with a timing of 3:53.68s, bettering Sajan Prakash’s 2018 record of 3:54.93s. Srihari ended the day with two gold after the Karnataka team finished first with a timing of 7:37.65s, also a national record, in the 4x200m men’s freestyle. Sambhavv R, Aneesh Gowda and Tanish George Mathew were the victorious members of the relay team.

However, it was the 14-year-old from Karnataka, Ridhima Veerendra Kumar, who bagged major headlines. Ridhima was aware of the importance of stepping up her game in the finals with Olympian Maana Patel in lane six during the finals. She clocked 1:04.40s to emerge winner. Results (Winners): 400M Freestyle Open Category Men: Kushagra Rawat (3:53.68) DELHI (NR) | Old record : Sajan Prakash (3:54.93) KER @ Trivandrum 2018. 400M Freestyle Open Category Women: Shivangi Sarma (4:31.86) ASSAM. 200M Breaststroke Open Category Men: Lohit M (2:19.00) R.S.P.B. 200M Breaststroke Open Category Women: Apeksha Fernandes (2:42.97) MAH. 100M Backstroke Open Category Men: Srihari Natraj (55.10) KAR (NR) | Old record : Srihari Natraj (55.63) KAR @ Bhopal 2019. 100M Backstroke Open Category Women: Ridhima Veerendra Kumar (1:04.40) KAR. 50M Butterfly Open Category Men: Sajan Prakash (24.90) POLICE. 50M Butterfly Open Category Women: Rujuta Khade (28.38) MAH. 4x200M Freestyle Open Category Men Karnataka (7:37.65) (NR) | Old record : R.S.P.B. (7:45.24) @ Ranchi 2016. 4x200M Freestyle Open Category Women Karnataka (9:08.02).