Despite the Olympian's record-breaking spree, Maharashtra was unable to beat Karnataka in the race for the overall championship.
Virdhwal Khade's heroics failed to stop Karnataka from retaining the overall title in the 35th National Junior Aquatic Championship held in Amritsar recently. The 17-year-old Olympian from Maharashtra gave no chance to his rivals in all the five events that he chose to swim and each time he dived into the pool, Khade came up with a record. Though he did not quite match his National best timing in any of the events he took part in, Khade made sure that he won them all in new meet record times.
Khade began his quest by winning the first race of the five-day meet, the 200m freestyle, in 1:54.90s. The effort erased Aaron D'Souza's mark of 2:01.40s set in 2006.
Khade then went on to better his own meet records while winning the 50m freestyle (23.21s; old: 23.49s), 100m freestyle (51.33s; old: 51.41s), 50m butterfly (24.78s; old: 26.27s) and 100m butterfly (55.96s; old: 58.64s).
Middle and long distance freestyle specialist Surabhi Tipre was the other star performer for Maharashtra who set three meet records. She won the 400m freestyle in 4:41.47s (old: 4:44.24s), the 800m freestyle in 9:41.71s (old: 9:42.62s) and the 1500m freestyle in 18:43.66s (old: 18:47.11s).
The Karnataka swimmers, however, tilted the scales with a tremendous performance, especially in Group II where Arhatha Magavi and Akash Rohit stole the show.
Arhatha, trained by the National coach, S. Pradeep Kumar, at the Bangalore Aquatic Club, set meet records in the 100m butterfly (1:07. 29s; old: 1:08.15s), 200m butterfly (2:24.22s; old: 2:26.65s) and 200m freestyle (2:13.93s; old: 2:15.94s). She also won the 100m freestyle and 50m butterfly to emerge the champion swimmer in girls Group II.
Akash Rohit won four gold medals, two of them in meet record times. He set meet records in 100m breaststroke (1:10.49s; old: 1:13.94s) and 200m breaststroke (2:33.61s; old: 2:38.11s).
His other two gold medals came in the 50m breaststroke and 200m individual medley. Rohit, thus, claimed the individual honours in the boys Group II section.
Final placingsSWIMMINGOverall ChampionshipKarnataka - 570 points.Team championshipBoys - Group I: Karnataka (161 points); Group II: Karnataka (139 points).
Girls - Group I: Maharashtra (185 points); Group II: Karnataka (179 points).
Best swimmersBoys - Group I: Virdhwal Khade (Maharashtra, 35 points); Group II: Akash Rohit (Karnataka, 33 points).
Girls - Group I: Surabhi Tipre (Maharashtra, 26 points); Group II: Arhatha Magavi (Karnataka, 35 points).
WATERPOLOBoys: 1. Bengal, 2. Kerala.Girls: 1. Kerala, 2. Karnataka.Best swimmerBoys: Subhadeep Roy (Bengal).Girls: H. S. Priyanka (Kerala).
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