Swimming: Srihari Natraj bags two gold medals in Nationals, Shivani Kataria wins 200m event

Teen sensation Srihari Nataraj won the men’s 100m freestyle title before bettering his own national record to win the gold in the 50m backstroke event of the senior National Aquatic Championships in Bhopal on Tuesday.

Four national records were broken across nine categories – seven individual and two team events.

Natraj created a national record by finishing with a timing of 25.58 seconds to clinch the gold in the men’s 50m backstroke event. Rakshith Shetty and PS Madhu finished second and third respectively.

In the 100m freestyle event, the 18-year-old Natraj (50.59) turned his silver from last year into gold by pipping AS Anand (51.49) of SSCB. Vinay Saharan (also of SSCB) won the bronze medal.

Delhi’s Kushagra Rawat broke the men’s 800m freestyle meet record clocking 8:09.47s. Soumyajit Sahaa and Sushrut Kapse of Railways came second and third respectively.

The women’s 200m freestyle saw Shivani Kataria of Haryana better her own record to win the gold medal. Maharashtra’s Kenisha Gupta and Khushi Dinesh of Karnataka finished second and third respectively.

The last record of the day was broken in the mixed 4x50m event. Team Maharashtra, comprising of Mihir Ambre, Kenisha Gupta and husband-wife duo of Rujuta and Virdhawal Khade, comfortably won the the event to clinch the gold medal with the timing of 1:39.69.

Showing their depth in talent, Maharashtra beat the challenge of team RSPB, who won silver, while Karnataka claimed bronze with a time 1:41.92.

Results:

Men: 800m Freestyle: Kushagra Rawat (Delhi) 8:09.47 (NMR); Soumyajit Saha (RSPB) 8:32.01; Sushrut Kapse (RSPB) 8:33.58

100m Butterfly: Sajan Prakash (Police) 54.25, Mihir Ambre (Maharashtra) 54.38; Supriya Mondal (RSPB) 54.47

50m Backstroke: Shrihari Nataraj (Karnataka)25.58 (NMR); Rakshith Shetty (Karnataka) 26.73; MADHU P S (SSCB) 27.02

100m Freestyle: Shrihari Nataraj (Karnataka) 50.59; Anand AS (SSCB) 51.49; Vinay Saharan (SSCB) 52.87.

Women: 200m Freestyle: Shivani Kataria (Haryana) 2:05.80 (NMR); Kenisha Gupta (Mahrashtra) 2:07.94; Khushi Dinesh (Karnataka) 2:10.49. 100m Butterfly: Divya Satija (Haryana) 1:04.38; Apeksha Fernandes (Maharashtra) 1:05.53; Nina Venkatesh (Karnataka) 1:05.98.

50m Backstroke: Maana Patel (Gujarat) 30.39, Jyotsna Pansare (Maharashtra) 30.82; Ridhima Veerendra Kumar (Karnataka) 30.87 4 x 200m Freestyle: Karnataka (Damini K Gowda,Suvana C Baskar, Smruthi Mahalingam, Khushi Dinesh) 9:04.86; Maharashtra (Yuga Birnale, Siyaa Shetty, Sadhvi Dhuri, Rutuja Talegaonkar) 9:08.51; Tamil Nadu (Swarna K Harith, Meenakshi V K R, Shakthi B, Bhavika Dugar) 9:04.86.

Mixed 4x50m Freestyle: Maharashtra (Mihir Ambre, Kenisha Gupta, Rujuta Khade, Virdhawal Khade) 1:39.69 (NMR); RSPB (Aaron D’Souza Avantika Chavan Aditi Dhumatkar Viraj Prabhu) 1:41.83; Karnataka (Likith S P Deeksha Ramesh Smruthi Mahalingam Shrihari Nataraj) 1:41.92.