For three days the spotlight at the 72nd Glenmark Senior National Aquatic Championships has shifted back and forth, from the vastly experienced to the emerging stars. It was no different on Saturday.
Considering the slam-bang pace up until Friday, the fourth day at the Dr B R Ambedkar Aquatic Centre was relatively docile in terms of record-breaking feats. But the young Saloni Dalal of Karnataka stole the limelight as she raced to a national record in the women’s 100M breaststroke, clocking 1:14.87, going past Chahat Arora’s 1:15.19 set at the Nationals in Bhopal last year.
Up against the impressive Kareena Shankta of SFI and Madhya Pradesh’s Annie Jain, Saloni brought in all her experience as a 200M swimmer to seal the gold.
Kareena was quick off the blocks and the clear leader till about the last 25 metres but Saloni then upped her pace brilliantly and with a photo-finish on the cards, made a late flourish from lane three amidst all-round cheers. Saloni is now three out of three after wins in the 50M breaststroke and 200M breaststroke, only behind Richa Mishra’s four golds.
The evening started with a cracker of a race in the women’s 800M freestyle. With Police’s Richa in the mix, there were no doubts about who would take the gold but a keenly fought race for the second had Saturday’s reasonable turnout on the edge of their seats.
While Richa had another comfortable evening securing her fourth gold (after 400M medley, 200M medley, 1500M freestyle) it was heartbreak for Karnataka’s Khushi Dinesh. Holding on to second for a majority of the race, Khushi (9:22.62) was beaten at the post, agonisingly, by Tamil Nadu’s Bhavika Dugar (9:22.57).
As on Friday, Karnataka pulled off a late heist adding another gold to their tally in the men’s 4x200 freestyle. Avinash Mani, Sanjay CJ, Rahul M and Srihari Nataraj took top honours after coming home in a time of 7:48.05.
Results: Men: 100M freestyle: Neel Roy (SFI) 51.45, 1; Srihari Nataraj (Karnataka) 51.64, 2; Anshul Kothari (Gujarat) 52.22, 3.
100M breaststroke: Sandeep Sejwal (Delhi) 1:02.60, 1; Likith SP (Karnataka) 1:03.09, 2; Puneet Rana (Police) 1:04.14, 3.
50M butterfly: Virdhawal Khade (SFI) 24.26, 1 (NMR, Previous 24.36, Virdhawal Khade, Thiruvananthapuram 2009); Supriya Mondal (RSPB) 24.86, 2; Sarma SP Nair (RSPB) 25.19, 3.
400M medley: Advait Page (MP) 4:30.92, 1; T Emil Robin Singh (TN) 4:37.14, 2; Sanu Debnath (RSPB) 4:39.71, 3.
4x200 freestyle: Karnataka 7:48.05, 1; SFI 7:51.29, 2; RSPB 7:52.75, 3.
Women: 100M freestyle: Kenisha Gupta (SFI) 58.75, 1; Shivani Kataria (Haryana) 58.77, 2; Aditi Dhumatkar (RSPB) 59.13, 3.
800M freestyle: Richa Mishra (Police) 9:14.22, 1; Bhavika Dugar (TN) 9:22.57, 2; Khushi Dinesh 9:22.62, 3.
100M breaststroke: Saloni Dalal (Karnataka) 1:14.87, 1 (National record. Previous: 1:15.19, Chahat Arora, Bhopal 2017); Kareena Shankta (SFI) 1:15.24, 2; Annie Jain 1:17.75, 3.
50M butterfly: Divya Satija (Haryana) 28.72, 1; Kenisha Gupta (SFI) 28.94, 2; Liyana Fathima Umer (Kerala) 29.00, 3.