The Hindu : Sport : Rehan and Sandeep continue to make waves

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Saturday, Sep 22, 2007
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Sport - Sports : General

Rehan and Sandeep continue to make waves

Kalyan Ashok

— Photo: K. Murali Kumar

RECORD-BREAKING SPREE: Rehan Poncha rewrote yet another National mark, this time in the 400m freestyle.

Panaji: Setting records seems to have a become a habit with Rehan Poncha and Sandeep Sejwal, who smashed their way to new National marks in the 61st LIC senior National aquatics championship at the Campal Pool here on Friday.

Rehan, gunning for his third gold and third National record, did it in style, clocking 4:04.49s in the men’s 400m freestyle and lowered his own National best of 4:05.21s set in the World championship earlier this year.

Sandeep, too, bettered his National record of 2:20.33s set in the Asian age group (open) championship last month with a timing 2:19.51s in the 200m breaststroke event.

Besides these two National marks, two meet records were also set on the third day, with Arjun Muralidharan bettering the previous best of 56.54s with an effort of 56.19s in the 100m butterfly for his second gold of the meet.

The Karnataka men’s relay quartet of N.A. Sandeep, Rehan Poncha, Ashwin Menon and Aaron D’Souza turned in a new mark of 3:40.46s in the 4x100m freestyle.

The race of the day was Rehan’s splendid charge in the 400m freestyle.

Drawn on lane four, the Karnataka swimmer was quick off the blocks and led from the front at a steady and purposeful pace, pulling away from teammate Rohit Hawaldar.

His first 100m came in 59.08s, the second in 2:00.95, and the third in 3:02.86 before the final push.

“I did according to my expectations and so far so good. I am already thinking about my next race, the 200m butterfly, and it is a crucial race for me,” said Rehan.

It must have been a little disappointing for Sandeep who, despite his lion-hearted effort, fell short of the Olympics qualifying mark of 2:18.37s in the 200m breaststroke by less than a second.

He raced away to a good lead by the 100m mark in 1:08, and after the turn slackened a bit with none to push him.

Karnataka girls shine

The women’s events witnessed no new records but the Karnataka girls scooped up all the three individual golds at stake with Kshipra Mahajan (400m freestyle), V. Tejaswini (200m breaststroke) and Pooja Alva (100m butterfly) making it to the top spots.

The Karnataka quartet also bagged the 4x100m freestyle gold.

In diving, Hruthika Shriram’s golden march continued and the 17-year-old from Solapur claimed her second gold after the high board win on Thursday, taking the three-metre springboard title.

“I am doing pretty well with the new format in force and I find it bit easier too,” said Hruthika, who finished fourth in the recent Asian age group championship.

The results:

Men: 400m freestyle: 1. Rehan Poncha (Kar, 4:04.49s, NR, Old: 4:05.21 by Rehan Poncha in the World championship 2007); 2. Rohit Hawaldar (Kar, 4:09.92s); 3. Arun Kumar (SSCB, 4:15.29).

200m breaststroke: 1. Sandeep Sejwal (Del, 2:19.51, NR, Old: 2:20.33s by Sandeep Sejwal, Asian age group meet 2007); 2. S.P. Lenka (SSCB, 2:31.63); 3. V. Abhishek (Kar, 2:33.92).

100m butterfly: 1. Arjun Muralidharan (Pol, 56.19s, NMR, Old: 56.54 by Arjun Muralidharan in 2006); 2. Akbar Ali Mir (Rlys, 58.81s); 3. D. Siddanth (Kar, 58.93). 4x100m freestyle relay: 1. Karnataka (3:39.41, NMR, Old: 3:40.46); 2. Railways (3:42.86); 3. SSCB (3:43.65).

Women:

400m freestyle: 1. Kshipra Mahaajan (Kar, 4:40.40s); 2. Pooja R. Alva (Kar, 4:42.10s); 3. Aarti Ghorpade (Mah, 4:44.61).

200m breaststroke: 1. V. Tejaswini (Kar, 2:50.62s); 2. Prerna S. Jain (Kar, 2:52.92s); 3. M.S. Divya (AP, 2:54.03s).

100m butterfly: 1. Pooja R. Alva (1:05.86); 2. Lekha Kamath (Mah, 1:06.06s); 3. C. Shubha (MP, 1:06.66).

4x100m freestyle: Karnataka (4:11.94s); 2. Maharashtra (4:25.53s); 3. Kerala (4:26.98s).

Diving: Three-metre springboard:

Men: 1. M. Manish Kumar (SSCB, 272.50 pts); 2. Harish Analdas (Rlys, 228.05); 3. Vijay K. Bhaidya (Mah, 222.40).

Women: 1. Hruthika Shriram (Rlys, 197.25); 2. Tanya Ganguly (Rlys, 185.95); 3. Karishma Mohite (Kar, 176.30).

Water polo:

Men: Bengal bt Maharashtra 6-1; Police drew with Kerala 8-8; SSCB bt Manipur 11-0.

Women: Police bt Delhi 10-1; Karnataka bt Bengal 4-2; Police bt Maharashtra 7-4.

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