Karnataka’s long reign as the champion continued for yet another year as the State won the overall championship in the 67th National swimming championships which concluded here at the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Aquatic Complex on Sunday.
Karnataka logged 217 points to win the title for the 23rd consecutive year. Maharashtra which was leading the table till the penultimate day finished second with 200 points while RSPB was third with 187 points.
Records remained under cover on the final day. But two teenagers Damini K. Gowda and Shivani Kataria showed glimpses of their immense promise by winning the gold in 200m IM and 100m freestyle respectively.
The final day also saw a couple of upsets with Sandeep Sejwal tasting defeat in 200m IM. P.S. Madhu of SSCB, who trailed Sejwal at the start of the last lap, overtook the Railway swimmer to win the gold in 2:09.30s. Sejwal came second in 2:10.08s while Karnataka’s Aravind finished third in 2:10.39s.
Maana Patel came last in 100m freestyle which was won by Shivani Kataria in 0:58.92s. Damini K. Gowda of Karnataka who tried her hand in 200 IM for the first time in four years easily won the event pushing Tamil Nadu’s Jayaveena and V.K.R. Meenakshi to the second place and third place.
Sajan Prakash of RSPB extracted sweet revenge over Saurabh Sangvekar in the men’s 800m freestyle event. Sajan led from start to finish and won in 8:20.94s while Saurabh finished a distant second in 8:27.73s.
However, Aaron Agnel D’Souza expectedly won the 100m freestyle in 0:51.55s.
Sandeep Sejwal (RSPB) and Maana Patel (Gujarat) were chosen as the best swimmers in men’s and women’s sections.
In Water polo Services and Kerala won the titles in men’s and women’s section.
The results:Men: 100m freestyle: 1. Aaron Agnel D’Souza (0:51.55), 2. Anshul Kothari (Guj) (0:52.26), 3. J.P. Arjun (RSPB) (0:53.09); 800m freestyle: 1. Sajan Prakash (RSPB) (8:20.94), 2. Saurabh Sangvekar (Kar) (8:27.73), 3. Mandar Anand Rao Divase (Police) (8:32.19).
200 IM: 1. P.S. Madhu (SSCB) (2:09.38), 2. Sandeep Sejwal (RSPB) (2:10.08), 3. M.Arvind (Kar) (2:10.39).
Women: 100m freestyle: 1. Shivani Kataria (Har) (0:58.92), 2. Aditi Dhumatkar (Mah) (0:58.95), 3. Siya Manjeshwar (Kar) (1:01.41); 50m butterfly: 1. Pooja R.Alva (Kar) (0:29.66), 2. Shivani Kataria (Har) (0:29.79), 3. Avantika Chavan (Mah) (0:29.80); 200m IM: 1. Damini K.Gowda (Kar) (2:28.77), 2. A.V. Jayaveena (TN) (2:29.90), 3. V.K.R. Meenakshi (TN) (2:30.08).
Overall title: 1. Karnataka (217 points), 2. Maharashtra (200 points), 3. RSPB (187 points).
Diving: Men: SSCB (31 points); Women: RSPB (27 points).
Best swimmer: Men: Sandeep Sejwal (RSPB). Women: Maana Patel (Guj).
Water polo final:Men: Services bt Railway 14-8; Women: Kerala bt Police 6-2.
