With three events lined up, Tuesday was a very hectic day for Srihari Nataraj, currently the country’s best swimmer.
The 18-year-old, who had bettered his National 50 backstroke record thrice at the junior Worlds in Hungary, bringing it down to 25.50s while finishing sixth, clocked 25.58 for this third individual gold at the 73rd Glenmark National senior aquatic championships here.
“I didn’t really go all out, I thought if I get a good start, it should be a personal best. The start was good but the swim wasn’t hundred percent,” said the youngster who also won the 100m freestyle on the day. “I knew this would be my main event, I enjoy this one, I don’t get a lot of chances to do this.”
Kushagra Rawat won the 800m very comfortably on Tuesday for a distance record double, while Shivani Kataria took the women’s 200m freestyle title with a meet record.
Monday turned out to be a very joyful day for Virdhawal Khade as his wife Rujuta came out of a four-year break to win the 50m freestyle title. The win made them the country’s fastest couple as Virdhawal had taken the men’s event a day earlier.
The results (finals): Men: 100m freestyle: 1. Srihari Nataraj (Kar) 50.59s, 2. A.S. Anand (Ser) 51.49, 3. Vinay Saharan (Ser) 52.87. 800m freestyle: 1. Kushagra Rawat (Del) 8:09.47 (MR, OR 8:12.51), 2. Soumyajit Saha (Rlys) 8:32.01, 3. Sushrut S. Kapse (Rlys) 8:33.58. 50m backstroke: 1. Srihari Nataraj (Kar) 25.58s (MR, OR 26.01), 2. Rakshith U. Shetty (Kar) 26.73, 3. P.S. Madhu (Ser) 27.02. 100m butterfly: 1. Sajan Prakash (Pol) 54.25s, 2. Mihir Ambre (Mah) 54.38, 3. Supriya Mondal (Rlys) 54.47.
50m butterfly: 1. Virdhawal Khade (Mah) 24.19 (MR, OR 24.26), 2. Supriya Mondal (Rlys) 24.55, 3. Mihir Ambre (Mah) 24.78; 200m breaststroke: 1. S.P. Likith (Kar) 2:18.61, 2. S. Danush (TN) 2:19.11, 3. M. Lohith (Rlys) 2:19.94. 400m medley: 1. S. Siva (Kar) 4:33.01, 2. T. Emil Robin Singh (Rlys) 4:36.68, 3. M. Jayant (Ser) 4:41.21. 4x100m medley relay: 1. Karnataka (Srihari Nataraj, S.P. Likith, Rakshith U. Shetty, M. Prithvi) 3:48.83 (MR, OR 3:48.95), 2. Services 3:52.11, 3. Railway 3:52.93.
Women: 200m freestyle: 1. Shivani Kataria (Har) 2:05.80 (MR, OR 2:05.86), 2. Kenisha Gupta (Mah) 2:07.94, 3. Khushi Dinesh (Kar) 2:10.49. 50m backstroke: 1. Maana Patel (Guj) 30.39s, 2. Jyotsna Pansare (Mah) 30.82, 3. Ridhima Veerandra Kumar (Kar) 30.87; 100m butterfly: 1. Divya Satija (Har) 1:04.38, 2. Apeksha Fernandes (Mah) 1:05.53, 3. Nina Venkatesh (Kar) 1:05.98; 4x200m freestyle: 1. Karnataka (Damini Gowda, Suvana Baskar, Smruthi Mahalingam, Khushi Dinesh) 9:04.86, 2. Maharashtra (9:08.51), 3. Tamil Nadu (9:09.18).
50m freestyle: 1. Rujuta Khade (Mah) 26.72, 2. Kenisha Gupta (Mah) 26.90, 3. Avantika Chavan (Rlys) 27.39; 1500m free: 1. Richa Mishra (Pol) 17:55.55, 2. Bhavika Dugar (TN) 17:57.67, 3. Khushi Dinesh (Kar) 17:58.14; 50m butterfly: 1. Divya Satija (Har) 28.33 (NR, OR 28.64), 2. Nina Venkatesh (Kar) 28.43, 3. Jyotsna Pansare (Mah) 28.74. 4x100m medley relay: 1. Maharashtra (Yuga Birnale, Kareena Shankta, Apeksha Fernandes, Kenisha Gupta) 4:33.10, 2. Karnataka 4:34.84, 3. Tamil Nadu 4:39.49.
Mixed 4x50m freestyle: 1. Maharashtra (Mihir Ambre, Rujuta Khade, Kenisha Gupta, Virdhawal Khade) 1:39.69 (MR; OR 1:40.00), 2. Railway 1:41.83, 3. Karnataka 1:41.92 .
