Senior National Aquatic Championships: Srihari Nataraj, Kushagra Rawat break meet record
Srihari Nataraj retained his 100m backstroke title while Kushagra Rawat won the 400m freestyle. Sajan Prakash took the 50m butterfly title.
Indian swimmers Srihari Nataraj and Kushagra Rawat set new meet records en route their titles at the Senior National Aquatic Championships 2021, which began at the Basavanagudi Aquatic Centre in Bengaluru on Tuesday.
This is the 74th edition of the national championships.
Srihari Nataraj, who qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Games by making the Olympics ‘A’ cut, retained his national 100m backstroke title with a timing of 55.10 seconds. He broke his own previous meet record of 55.63 seconds.
Srihari Nataraj, along with Sambhavv R, Aneesh Gowda and Tanish Mathew, also broke the meet record in the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay. The team set a timing of 7:37.65s, breaking the previous record of 7:45.24s, set by the Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB).
The promising Kushagra Rawat took the 400m men’s freestyle national title, covering the distance in 3:53.68 seconds. He broke Sajan Prakash’s meet record of 3:54.93 seconds.
Two-time Olympian Sajan Prakash, who became the first Indian swimmer to qualify for an Olympics with an ‘A’ cut at Tokyo 2020, won the men’s 50m butterfly national title with a timing of 24.90 seconds.
Sajan Prakash is the reigning national champion in the men’s 100m and 200m butterfly and 200m medley events. He also held the 400m freestyle national title before Kushagra Rawat but did not take part in the event in this edition.
Meanwhile, Tokyo Olympian Maana Patel was beaten to the women’s 100m backstroke title by Ridhima Kumar.
Maana Patel is the reigning champion in the women’s 50m and 200m backstroke events.
Results on Day 1 of Senior Aquatic National Championships 2021
Men
400m Freestyle
1. Kushagra Rawat - 3:53.68s (DEL)
2. Aneesh S Gowda - 3:59.66s (KAR)
3. Shoan Ganguly - 4:00.14s (KAR)
200m Breaststroke
1. Lohit M - 2:19.00s (RSPB)
2. Danush S - 2:20.43s (TN)
3. Arun As - 2:20.96s (SSCB)
100m Backstroke
1. Srihari Natraj - 55.10s (KAR)
2. Siva S - 57.60s (KAR)
3. Xavier Michael D'Souza 58.96s (GOA)
50m Butterfly
1. Sajan Prakash - 24.90s (POLICE)
2. Mihir Ambre - 25.08s (MAH)
2. Adhitya D - 25.08s (TN)
4x200m Freestyle Relay
1. Karnataka - 7:37.65s - Sambhavv R, Aneesh Gowda, Tanish Mathew, Srihari Nataraj
2. Delhi - 7:42.67s - Anurag Dagar, Sameer Sejwal, Vishal Grewal, Kushagra Rawat
3. SSCB - 7:56.38s - Kuntal Giri, Chavan Vithoba, Vinay Saharan, Anand As
Women
400m Freestyle
1. Shivangi Sarma - 4:31.86s (ASSAM)
2. Aanya Wala - 4:32.70s (MAH)
3. Prachi Tokas - 4:38.49s (DEL)
200m Breaststroke
1. Apeksha Fernandes - 2:42.97s (MAH)
2. Lineysha A K - 2:44.51s (KAR)
3. Kalyani Saxena - 2:45.13s (GUJ)
100m Backstroke
1. Ridhima Veerendra Kumar - 1:04.40s (KAR)
2. Maana Patel - 1:05.31s (GUJ)
3. Nina Venkatesh - 1:06.39s (KAR)
50m Butterfly
1. Rujuta Khade - 28.38s (MAH)
2. Divya Satija - 28.50s (HAR)
3. Nina Venkatesh - 28.60s (KAR)
4x200m Freestyle Relay
1. Karnataka - 9:08.02s
2. Maharashtra - 9:14.23s
3. Tamil Nadu - 9:14.78s