Karnataka led the way by bagging eight gold medals on day one of the 39th junior National aquatics championships in Chennai on Wednesday.
The first final of the day, the boys’ Group I 200m freestyle, saw a close finish as Mitesh Manoj Kunte of Karnataka beat State-mate A. Ajay by one-tenth of a second.
Seven National records were bettered during the course of the day.
The results: (Winners only):
Boys: Group I: 200m freestyle: Mitesh Manoj Kunte (Kar) 1:58.53s; 100m breaststroke: Neil Contractor (Guj) 1:08.26s; 100m backstroke: B. Pranam (Kar) 1:00.76s NR (previous: Praveen Tokas, Delhi, 1:00.96s, 2007); 4x100m freestyle: Karnataka (Akhilesh Ram, Mitesh Manoj Kunte, Rakshith U. Shetty, A. Ajay) 3:45.33s.
Group II: 200m freestyle: Md. Yaqoob Saleem (Kar) 2:04.75s; 100m breaststroke: Likith S.P. (Kar) 1:08.66s NR (previous: Akash Rohith, Karnataka, 1:10.49s, 2008); 100m backstroke: P. Mukundhan (TN) 1:06.21s; 4x100m freestyle: Maharashtra (Jason Smith, Ishaan Mehra, Amitesh Raghav, Viraj Prabhu) 3:54.92s NR (previous: Karnataka 3:58.54s, 2005).
Girls: Group I: 200m freestyle: Anusha Mehta (TN) 2:10.81s; 100m breaststroke: Priyanka Priyadarshni (Del) 1:16.29s NR (previous: Priyanka Priyadarshni, 1:17.77s, 2011); 100m backstroke: Rhea Castelino (AP) 1:10.00s; 4x100m freestyle: Karnataka (T. Sneha, Ashritha N. Bhardwaj, Tulasi R. Haritsa, Prathima A. Kollali) 4:13.52s.
Group II: 200m freestyle: V. Malavika (Kar) 2:12.41s NR (previous: Kanchi Desai, Maharashtra, 2:12.92s, 2010); 100m breaststroke: A.V. Jayaveena (TN) 1:17.85s NR (previous: A.V. Jayaveena 1:19.02s, 2011); 100m backstroke: Damini K. Gowda (Kar) 1:09.88s; 4x100m freestyle: Maharashtra (Trisha Bhimani, Aakanksha Vora, Jia Kamte, Monique Gandhi) 4:14.48s NR (previous: Maharashtra 4:18.13s, 2011).
Water-polo: Boys: Maharashtra 6 bt Karnataka 1; Punjab 7 bt Manipur 1; Bengal 12 bt Delhi 0; Kerala 9 bt Tamil Nadu 0. Girls: Bengal 8 bt Delhi 0; Karnataka 7 bt Tamil Nadu 0.
Keywords: junior National aquatics
The seven so-called 'national records' are all age-group or junior
records. We should change our practice and have just one set of
'national records', the best performances by Indians in various
events, to bring it in line with the rest of the world. In the major
sports nations, their national records are often rewritten by juniors
but here it's rarely so, if at all. So we should have categories of
'national junior records [NJR]' or 'national age-group records [NAGR]'
to distinguish them from the country's best, the national records[NR],
and thereby avoid confusion.
It will be a good source of encouragement if Hindu Publishes the list of the first three winners in the online edition. It could be hard in the print edition because of space constraints. It is not winning and coming first but the spirit of participation. Swimmers who find their names in the online edition will be encouraged to perform better.
Interviews can be done in your local downtown editions. It takes hours and hours of practice to reach any stage in sports. Coming first is an incentive, coming second or third is also an achievement. Also please mention the age groups.
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