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

Express News Service

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 55.63, registered in 2019. In the first final of the evening, it was Rawat, who came up with a dominant race from start to finish, breaking the 400m freestyle record with a timing of 3:53.68, bettering Sajan Prakash’s 2018 record of 3:54.93. Srihari ended the day with two golds after the Karnataka team finished first with a timing of 7:37.65, 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. Featuring in the senior meet for the second time, 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 delivered in style, outshining Maana as she clocked 1:04.40s to emerge winner. Maana finished second with 1:05.31. It proved to be a good contest with Ridhima having started brightly. Though Maana came back strongly in the second 50, the Bengaluru girl held strong to touch the pad first. “I was not scared (of Maana) as such, but I took it as a challenge,” Ridhima said.

“I am a sprinter, so my first 50 is always faster so I knew that it would be close. I knew that I would have to push myself more here. I have seen her races so I knew she would pull herself in the second 50.” Interestingly, in the last nationals in 2019, Ridhima was handed the gold after the initial winner Maana was disqualified in the event. Ridhima had originally finished second. Established swimmer Sajan, who is coming off a shoulder injury, emerged victorious in the men’s 50m butterfly with a timing of 24.90 as well.

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).