Karnataka rule the pool

Pune, July 20: Nothing, absolutely nothing could stop the resurgent Karnataka swimmers as they made a clean sweep on the final day of the 2...

Pune, July 20: Nothing, absolutely nothing could stop the resurgent Karnataka swimmers as they made a clean sweep on the final day of the 24th Junior Aquatics National Championship, at the Mhalunge Balewadi Sports Complex here today.

The noteworthy feature of the championship was that `aqua queen’ Abhinaya Shetty, who won all the nine individual events she took part in, added a tenth gold to her tally by anchoring the relay squad. Though she did not set a record, her efforts nevertheless helped her win the girls under-18 individual title.

In the boys’ under-18 section, international Elvis Ali Hazarika of Assam proved a supreme force with his tally of five gold and two silver. In the under-15 section, it was Abhinaya’s teammate Mario Johnson while Richa Misra (Delhi) was the best among girls in the same section.

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Defending champions Karnataka, who have ruled the pool for five years, extended their reign when they notched a tally of 416 points to win the overall team championships title.

The 16-year-old Hazarika, gave himself an birthday gift a day in advance when he broke the 13-year-old 100 metres freestyle record set by Vishal Kapoor in 1983.

Elvis, who broke the record in the morning heats (55.38s), failed to repeat his feat in the final where he won the gold with a time of 55.59s.Today Abhinaya won gold in the 400m IM, 100 backstroke, 100 freestyle.

Karnataka won seven gold today for an overall tally of 21 gold, 20 silver and 13 bronze.

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Hosts Maharashtra won two gold medals today; Radhika Lakhani (200m breaststroke in under-15 and Sindoor Thakkar in 50m freestyle in under-15).RESULTS

Boys (under-18): 400m IM: 1 SV Preetam (Kar) 5:14.43 secs; 2 Shreesh Ready (Kar), 3 Jaspreet Singh (Pun). 100m backstroke: 1 Surjit Ganguly (Ben) 1.02.62 secs; 2 Elvis Ali Hazarika (Assam), 3 Sachin Kakkar (Del). 100m freestyle: 1 Elvis Ali Hazarika (Assam) 55.59 secs (nmr); 2 Surjit Ganguly (Ben), 3 Santosh Mahale (Kar).

Indvidual champion: Elvis Ali Hazarika (Assam, 45 pts).

Team championship: Karnataka: 88 pts.

Boys Under-15 (200m backstroke): 1 Mario Johnson (Kar) 2.27.61secs; 2 Tanuj Arora (Del), 3 K Bharat (Kar). 100m butterfly: 1 Mario Johnson (Kar) 1.03.48secs; 2 Satyapriya Gupta (UP), 3 Somyadeep Bandopadhyay (Ben). 50m freestyle: 1 R Reji Kumar (Ker) 26.73secs; 2 Daksh Trivedi (Del), 3 Akbar Ali Mir (Ben).

Individual champion: Mario Johnson (Karnataka, 43 pts).

Team championships: Karnataka: 93 pts.

Girls Under-18 (400m IM): 1 Abhinaya Shetty (Kar) 5.37.29 secs; 2 K Chitra (Kar), 3 M Usha (Ker). 100m backstroke: 1 Abhinaya Shetty (Kar) 1.11.41 secs, 2 Naina Sen (Del), 3 Dharshana Rajaram (Kar). 100m freestyle: 1 Abhinya Shetty (Kar) 1.03.34 secs, 2 Naina Sen (Del), 3 K Chitra (Kar).

Individual champion: Abhinaya Shetty (Karnataka, 63 pts).

Team championships: Karnataka: 156 pts

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Girls Under-15 (200m breaststroke): 1 Richa Mishra (Del) 2.37.05 secs, 2 CS Malovika (Kar), 3 Nanita Khurana (Mah). 200m breaststroke: 1 Radhika Lakhani (Mah) 3.00.93 secs; 2 Nisha Mahale (Kar), 3 Zeba Wadia (Mah). 100m butterfly: 1 Divya Bajaj (Kar) 1.10.39 secs; 2 Richa Mishra (Del), 3 Nanita Khurana (Mah). 50m freestyle: 1 Sindoor Thakkar (Mah) 29.29 secs; 2 Reshma Millet (Kar), 3 Merina Thomas (Kar). Individual champion: Richa Mishra (Delhi, 44 pts)

Team championship: Karnataka: 94 pts.

Overall team championship: Karnataka: 416 pts.