Virdhawal Khade made his much waited appearance and nonchalantly walked away with a games record on the third day of the swimming competitions of the 35th National Games at the Mihir Sen Plaza here on Tuesday.
Virdhawal set the pool on fire by becoming the fastest swimmer winning the 50m freestyle comfortably over Aaron D’Souza of Madhya Pradesh. Virdhawal was off the blocks in a flash and pulled ahead of the field with powerful stokes to finish in 0:23.00s which bettered his own record of 0:23.08 set in 2011. Aaron came second in 0:23.45s while Anshul Kothari was third in 0:23.56s.
Six meet records were set on the third day and trend was set by National champion M. Arvind of Karnataka who set a new mark in the 400m IM, the first event of the day.
Arvind warded off a spirited challenge from Bengal’s Supriya Mondal to win the gold. Arvind, who trailed briefly at the start, built up a sizeable lead and looked headed for a comfortable win. But Supriya made an all out attempt on the homestretch and narrowed the lead but the Karnataka lad managed to hang on and win in a new games record of 4:37.75s. The old record of 4:40.08 was set by A.P. Gagan in 2011.
Supriya Mondal also bettered the existing record after finishing in 4:38.99s. Sanu Debnath of Bengal finished third.
P.S. Madhu of Services upset existing record holder Rohit R. Havaldar in what was the closest contest of the day in the men’s 200m backstroke. Rohit was leading till the first 100m but Madhu caught up by the 150m mark and passed Rohit with about 20m left for the finish. Madhu finished under Rohit’s old mark (2:08.29) by clocking 2:07.36s.
Richa Mishra, on a comeback trail, showed signs of returning to top form by setting a new meet record in the women’s 400m IM. Richa, who led from the start, had established an unassailable lead at the end of the butterfly leg of the race and her win was never in doubt.
The question was whether the Delhi girl would be able to break her own record and she didn’t disappoint.
Richa, representing Madhya Pradesh in this meet, despite not facing any real challenge went past her own meet record (5:09.47) clocking 5:07.15s. Akansha Vora of Maharashtra finished a distant second while V.K.R. Meenakshi of Tamil Nadu came third.
Maana Patel was back to her best in her favourite event, the 200m backstroke. The Gujarat teenager warmed up with a meet record (2:26.32) in the heats in the morning which bettered Richa Mishra’s 2011 mark of 2:26.8. In the final, Maana did even better by improving on her own record by clocking 2:23.21s.
Aditi Dhumatkar of Maharashtra emerged as the fastest swimmer in the women’s section as she won the 50m freestyle with a new record of 0:26.90s. The old record (0:27.34) stood in the name of Shika Tandon which was set in 2007.
The results: Diving: Men: Highboard: 1. Siddarth Pardeshi (Ker) (402.95 pts - NGR; OR - 300.65 pts, Tushar Gitye, Maharashtra 2007), 2. Tushar Gitye (Mah) (321.35), 3. Hemam E. Singh (SSCB).
Swimming: Men: 400m IM: 1. M. Arvind (Kar) (4:37.75 - NGR; OR - 4:40.08, A.P. Gagan, Karnataka, 2011), 2. Supriya Mondal (Ben) (4:38.99), 3. Sanu Debnath (Ben) (4:42.28).
200m backstroke: 1. P.S. Madhu (SSCB) (2:05.66 - NGR; OR - 2:08.29, Rohit R. Havaldar, Karnataka, 2011), 2. Rohit R. Havaldar (Mah), 3. T. Sethu Manickavel (TN) (2:10.15).
50m freestyle: 1. Virdhawal Khade (Mah) (0:23.00 - NGR; OR - 23.08S, Virdhawal Khade, Maharashtra, 2011), 2. Aaron D’Souza (MP) (0:23.45), 3. Anshul Kothari (Guj) (0:23.56).
Women: 400m IM: 1. Richa Mishra (MP) (5:07.15 - NGR; OR - 5:09.47, Richa Mishra, Delhi, 2011), 2. Aakanksha Vora (Mah) (5:14.72), 3. V.K.R. Meenakshi (TN) (5:17.34).
200m backstroke: 1. Maana Patel (Guj) (2:23.21 - NGR; OR - Maana Patel, Gujarat, 2015), 2. Vaania Kapoor Achuthan (Kar) (2:25.06), 3. Richa Mishra (MP) (2:25.31).
50m freestyle: 1. Aditi Dhumatkar (Mah) (0:26.90s - NGR; OR - 0:27.34, Shikha Tandon, Karnataka, 2007), 2. Shivani Kataria (Har) (0:27.26), 3. Avantika Chavan (Mah) (0:27.36).
