Ridhima Veerendra Kumar's record-breaking swim in girls' Group II 100m backstroke was the highlight as Karnataka dominated day two of the sub-junior and junior National Aquatic Championships at the Basavanagudi Aquatic Centre on Wednesday.
Ridhima's time of 1:04.87s — 0.43 seconds faster than Maana Patel's mark set in 2014 — was one of four new National records set by the home swimmers on the day, with the others being Aneesh S. Gowda (boys' Group I 400m freestyle) and the boys' and girls’ Group I 4x100m medley relay teams.
Elsewhere, Assam's Astha Choudhury came up with two of her fastest swims in the Group I 100m butterfly race, rewriting the National record first in the heats, and then again in the final with a time of 1:03.58s. Karnataka's Jas Singh won his fourth individual gold, in the 100m freestyle for Group V boys, to add to the wins in 100m breaststroke, 200m IM and 50m backstroke on day one.
The results: Boys: Group I: 400m freestyle: Aneesh S. Gowda (Kar), 4:00.11 (NMR; OR: 4:00.91, Aryan Nehra (Guj), 2019); 200m backstroke: Utkarsh Gor (Mah), 1:02.95; 100m butterfly: R. Sambhavv (Kar), 55.87; 4x100m medley: Karnataka, 3:56.35 (NMR; OR: 4:00.76, Karnataka, 2018); Group II: 50m breaststroke: Abhishek Kannaujia (SSCB), 32.98; 200m butterfly: N. Deva Ganesh (AP), 2:17.90; Group III: 400m freestyle: M. Yagna Sai (AP), 4:59.32; 100m butterfly: Akshaj Thakuria (Kar), 1:06.55; Group IV: 100m freestyle: Sharan Sridhara (Kar), 1:06.85; 200m IM: T. Kabilan (TN), 2:46.94; Group V: 100m freestyle: Jas Singh (Kar), 1:09.47.
Girls: Group I: 400m freestyle: Aanya Wala (Mah), 4:34.54; 200m backstroke: Sanjana Prabhugaonkar (Goa), 2:28.71; 100m butterfly: Astha Choudhury (Asm), 1:02.71 (NMR; OR: 1:03.58, Astha, 2021); 4x100m medley: Karnataka, 4:32.69 (NMR; OR: 4:37.34, Karnataka, 2018); Group II: 100m backstroke: Ridhima Veerendra Kumar (Kar), 1:04.87 (NMR; OR: 1:05.30, Maana Patel (Guj), 2014); 50m breaststroke: Vihitha Nayana (Kar), 36.10; 200m butterfly: Hashika Ramachandra (Kar), 2:26.56; Group III: 100m butterfly: Tanishi Gupta (Kar), 1:10.12; Group IV: 100m freestyle: Alyssa Sweedal Rego (Kar), 1:08.72; 200m IM: Anwesha Khanikar (Asm), 3:00.85; Group V: 100m freestyle: K. Lasya Sri (AP), 1:12.46
On Tuesday: Boys: Group I: 4x200m freestyle: Karnataka, 7:50.06 (NMR; OR: 7:57.07, Karnataka, 2017); Group II: 100m breaststroke: Surya Jhoyappa (Kar), 1:11.61; Group III: 50m backstroke: Akshaj Thakuria (Kar), 33.60; Group IV: 50m backstroke: Ishan Ghosh (Ben), 35.37; Group V: 50 backstroke: Jas Singh (Kar), 37.58.
Girls: Group II: 100m breaststroke: A.K. Lineysha (Kar), 1:16.66; Group III: 50m backstroke: Pramiti Gnanasekaran (TN), 34.59; Group IV: 50m backstroke: Annika Deborah Paripoornam Ananth (Tel), 37.77; Group V: 50m backstroke: Shreya Binil (Ker), 39.88.
