Thirteen-year-old Maana Patel of Gujarat set a new meet record in the Group II girls 200m backstroke clocking 02.23.41 in the 40th junior National aquatics championship at Gachibowli swimming complex here on Saturday.
The Ahmedabad girl eclipsed the previous best timing of Ananya Panigrahi of Maharashtra 02:32.25 set in the 2010 edition.
This was Maana’s fourth gold in this meet here and she has won three of them with new meet records.
She set a new national record in the heats also clocking 02:31.57 in the morning and took the gold in the evening.
“I am delighted with my performance. When I came here, records were never on my target. All that I hoped for was to do well and come up with decent timings. But, now I am finding it extremely difficult to control my joy,” said Maana, who was almost 15m ahead of her competitors.
In the Group I girls 200 m individual medley, A. V. Jayaveena of Tamil Nadu, who was adjudged the ‘best swimmer’ in the last edition with four gold and a silver, clinched the honours with a record timing of 2:28.09, erasing the previous best of Kanchi Desai of Maharashtra (02:28.71) set in 2011.
“I was disappointed when I missed the gold in the 100 m backstroke and had to settle with silver here. Though I won the gold in the 50 m backstroke, this evening’s gold was special because it came with a new meet record,” Jayaveena remarked later.
In the girls’ section, Monique Gandhi of Maharashtra also set a new national record in the Group I 800 m freestyle with a timing of 09.21.24, beating the previous record held by Surabhi Tipre of Maharashtra (09.23.79) in 2010.
Another star performer in the girls’ section was P. M. Abishikta of Tamil Nadu who bagged her third gold of the meet when she won the Group II 1500 m freestyle event with a timing of 18:30.49.
In the boys’ section, M. Arvind of Karnataka bagged a ‘double’ with two meet records. In the Group I 200 m he clocked 02.11.13 beating the earlier record of Tamil Nadu’s J. Agnishwar (02:12.75 set in 2007). Later, the Karnataka boy won the 200 m backstroke event also with another record timing of 02.11.30. The previous best in this category was by Praveen Tokas of Delhi - 02.11.46 set in 2007.
The results: All finals: Girls: Group I: 800 m freestyle: 1. Monique Gandhi (Mah) 09:21.24, 2. Aakanksha Vora (Mah), 3. Shruthi Mahalingam (TN).
200 m individual medley: 1. A.V. Jayaveena (TN) 02:28.09, 2. V.K.R. Meenakshi (Kar), 3. V. Malavika (Kar).
200m backstroke: 1. Ananya Panigrahi (Maha) 02:30.92, 2. Tulasi R. Harsita (Kar), 3. Shreyantipan (Ben).
Group II: 1500m freestyle: 1. P.M. Abishikta (TN) 18:30.49, 2. Nikita Bhaiya (TN), 3. Ayush Bora (Mah).
200m individual medley: 1. Damini K. Gowda (Kar) 02:30.12, 2. Shraddha Sudhir (Kar), 3. Proteeti Sinha (Mah).
200m backstroke: 1. Maana Patel (Guj) 02:23.41, 2. Nivya Raja (TN), 3. A. Kaavyashri (TN).
Boys: Group I: 400m freestyle: 1. Raj Bhanvadia (Guj) 04:12.14, 2. Mitesh Manoj Kunte (Kar), 3. Mohammed Yaqoob Saleem (Kar).
200m individual medley: 1. M. Arvind (Kar) 02:11.13, 2. T. Sethu Manickavel (TN), 3. R. Vishak (TN).
200m backstroke: 1. M. Aravind (Kar) 02:11.30, 2. Rohit Imoliya (MP), 3. B. Pranam (Kar).
Group II: 400m freestyle: 1. Ishaan Jaffer (Maha) 04:18.80, 2. R. Sanjeev (Kar), 3. Aryan Makhija ( Mah).
200m individual medley: 1. Hemanth Jenukal (Kar) 02:22.92, 2. Spandan Pratik Rath (Maha), 3. Saumya Vora (Mah).
