Two teenagers—Arvind Mani and Shraddha Sudhir from Bengaluru—won honours for the State at the 12th South Asian Games in Guwahati for the second consecutive day. On Sunday, they took home a gold and silver in two separate swimming events.
Nineteen-year-old Arvind Mani, a second-year civil engineering student at R.V. College of Engineering, won the 200 metre backstroke event.
Speaking to The Hindu from Assam soon after the race, he described it as his best international race so far. “This is my first international event in India and I am proud to have won gold,” added the teenager from Basavanagudi.
Though he clocked 2.8 minutes in the race, he was hoping to best the game’s record of 2.7 minutes set by a Sri Lankan swimmer in 2006.
“I missed my personal best timing by three fractions ,” added the swimmer, who aims to strike gold in the 50 metre backstroke event on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, it was the first international event for 16-year-old city swimmer Shraddha Sudhir who swam to silver in the 400 metre individual medley at the games on Sunday evening.
“Though I started well, I suffered a cramp on my leg soon after and struggled through the last two laps. Even though it wasn’t my personal best, it was a good race. My main competitor was fellow Indian — Sayani Ghosh from West Bengal — who won the gold. I am really happy for her,” she said.
A resident of J.P. Nagar and a first year PUC student of Jain College, Shraddha clocked 5.23 minutes in the international aquatic event. “I am eagerly awaiting the 200 metre individual event on Tuesday … I aim to come first,” she said.
On Saturday, teenager Damini Gowda from Basavanagudi won a gold medal in the 100 metre butterfly event at the games.
