P.S. Madhu broke his own National record and claimed the men’s 100m backstroke gold medal on the opening day of the Glenmark National aquatics championship at the V.B.B. Stadium here on Saturday.
The Services swimmer’s spirited showing helped him clock 57.85 and better his previous record, set in Kolkata two years ago, by 0.1 second.
“I am thrilled. I had no plans to go for the National record but I had made up my mind to give my best and go all out in the first 50m,” said Madhu.
Aaron D’Souza, the only non-backstroker in the final, also performed creditably well to time 57.91 and surpass Madhu’s Kolkata mark for the silver medal. Arvind Mani had the bronze with 59.06.
Debnath rallies to winSanu Debnath staged a spectacular come-from-behind win to bag the men’s 200m medley gold.
Debnath (1:00.06) placed second behind Arvind Mani (58.73) at the conclusion of the backstroke halfway stage. He followed a well-planned strategy to keep his composure and give his best in breaststroke and freestyle.
In a neck-and-neck fight in the final stretch, the Railways swimmer from Bengal overtook Mani in the last 25m to emerge as the winner with a time of 2:08.54. Mani was second with 2:09.29, while Likith S.P. was third with 2:10.8.
The organisers could not do much about the green coloured water in the pool and it posed problems for the swimmers. “Sighting the ‘T’ (on the wall) was an issue because of the water (which was not clear due to the faulty filtration machine),” said Debnath.
Saurabh Sangvekar and Maana Patel’s dominating performances enabled them to retain their men’s 400m freestyle and women’s 100m backstroke titles respectively.
The results:
400m freestyle: Men: 1. Saurabh Sanvekar (RSPB) 4:02.7, 2. Anand AS (SSCB) 4:08.14; 3. Avinash Mani (Kar) 4:09.48; Women: 1. Shiwani Kataria (Har) 4:32.99, 2. Monique Gandhi (Mah) 4:41.02, 3. Shruthi Mahalingam (TN) 4:41.86.
100m backstroke: Men: 1. Madhu P.S. (SSCB) 57.85 (NR, previous Madhu P.S., Services, 57.95, 2014, Kolkata), 2. Aaron D’Souza (RSPB) 58.91, 3. Arvind Mani (Kar) 59.06; Women: 1. Maana Patel (Guj) 1:05.28, 2. Shreyanti Pan (Ben) 1:08.05, 3. Yuga Birnale (Mah) 1:08.19.
50m butterfly: Men: 1. Anshul Kothari (Guj) 24.93, 2. Sarma S.P. Nair (RSPB) 25.19, 3. Supriyo Mondal (RSPB) 25.51; Women: 1. Jyotsna Pansare (Mah) 29.27, 2. Avantika Chavan (Mah) 29.54, 3. Damini K. Gowda (Kar) 29.62.
200m medley: Men: 1. Sanu Debnath (RSPB) 2:08.54, 2. Arvind Mani (Kar) 2:09.29, 3. Likith S..P. (Kar) 2:10.8; Women: 1. Sayani Ghosh (Ben) 2:25.22, 2. Rayna Saldanha (Mah) 2:30.34, 3. Shraddha Sudhir (Kar) 2:30.75.
4x100m freestyle relay: Men: 1. RSPB 3:31.96, 2. SSCB 3:35.86, 3. Karnataka 3:37.79; Women: 1. Maharashtra 4:07.27, 2.Karnataka 4:11.47, 3. Bengal 4:21.90.
Diving: High board: Men: 1. Siddharth Pradeshi (SSCB) 325.95, 2. Tushar Singha (AIP) 156.30, 3. Puskar Mettei (SSCB) 260.15; Women: 1. Hrutika Shriram (RSPB) 202.15, 2. Twinkle Singha (AIP) 156.30, 3. Ispita Mahajan (Bengal) 154.95.
Waterpolo: Men: Maharashtra bt Karnataka 11-2; Punjab bt Bengal 5-3; Kerala bt Delhi 11-2; Women: Bengal bt All India Police 5-1; Karnataka bt Manipur 12-0.
