Srihari Natraj wins; Tamil Nadu quartet breaks mixed 4x100m medley record

Karnataka's Srihari Natraj won the men's 100m freestyle while the Tamil Nadu quartet of Pramiti Gnanasekaran, Danush Suresh, B Bendection Rohit, and Deeksha Sivakumar created a new record (4:05.30) in the mixed 4x100m medley at the Senior National Aquatic Championships here on Wednesday.

The previous record (4:06.84) was held by Maharashtra, created in 2023. This time around Rishabh Anupam Das, Saanvi Deshwal, Mihir Ambre, and Aditi Satish Hegde represented Maharashtra in this event and finished second with 4:07.14.

Vritti Agarwal, representing Telangana, took the lead in the initial laps of the women's 1500m freestyle and held on to touch the pads at 17:45.63. Karnataka's Shirin followed her in second place with a time of 17:50.61.

 

Karnataka's Aneesh S Gowda broke away in the very first lap of the men's 800m freestyle and was the first to finish with a time of 8:20.01. He was followed by Dharshan S, also from Karnataka, who finished in 8:27.69.

The women's 200m medley saw Manvai Varma, from Karnataka, lead through the first 150m of the race by staying ahead of the pack in butterfly, backstroke and breaststroke before Tamil Nadu's Shreenithi Natesan and Karnataka's Hashika Ramachandra pulled ahead in the last 50m freestyle lap to finish first and second respectively, clocking 2:25.52 and 2:25.84.

The men's 200m medley saw Vinayak Vijay, from Services Sports Control Board (SSCB), and Sridhar Siva, from Karnataka, trade marginal leads in the last lap and claim the top two spots.

Vinayak Vijay finished first with 2:07.73, while Sridhar Siva clocked 2:08.31 to come in second.

The women's 100m freestyle was a neck-to-neck race that ended with Bihar's Mahi Swetraj touching the pads first at 58.54 while Shivangi Sarma, from RSPB, and Aditi Satish Hegde, from Maharashtra, both finished in second place with 59.17.

The men's 100m freestyle, one of the closest affairs of the Senior National Aquatic Championships so far, saw Natraj narrowly claim the top spot with a time of 50.59. Following him was Anand As, from Services Sports Control Board (SSCB), who clocked 50.77.

In the women's 50m breaststroke Punjab's Avni Chhabra led the pack and finished first with 33.76.

Chahal Arora, also from Punjab, was milliseconds behind her and finished second at 33.80.

The men's 50m breaststroke saw Karnataka's Vidith S Shankar secure a narrow first place finish with 28.62. Almost alongside him was M S Yadesh Babu, from Tamil Nadu, who clocked 28.67.

Tamil Nadu took the initial lead in the mixed 4x100m freestyle, while Maharashtra and RSPB were following closely but Tamil Nadu rushed ahead in the penultimate round and built a significant lead.

However, Maharashtra forced themselves into contention in the last lap, recovering a huge deficit and stealing the first place with Deepti Raghunath Tilak, Heer Gitesh Shah, Aditi Satish Hegde, Rishabh Anupam Das clocking 3:43.13.

Adhithya Bala Ponni K, B Bendection Rohit, and Deeksha Sivakumar from Tamil Nadu followed in second with 3:43.85.