As widely anticipated, Srihari Nataraj and Shivani Kataria signed off with their fourth gold medals to rightfully claim the ‘best swimmer’ award on the fifth and final day of the National aquatic championship here on Wednesday.
Srihari, going for a third National record in backstroke in this meet, fell short of realising his goal but broke the meet mark in the two-lapper. Aiming to better his own National record of 56.98 set in Tashkent this summer, the 16-year-old clocked 57.20. The time was still good enough to erase the meet mark of 57.85 set by P. S. Madhu in 2016. On this day, Madhu settled for the silver despite coming home inside the previous mark.
Srihari collected eight medals, comprising three individual gold medals and a silver. From the relays, Srihari added a gold, two silver and a bronze. He pipped a more consistent Sajan Prakash – winner of five gold medals – in the race for the ‘best swimmer’ title.
Sajan, too, signed off with a gold medal and a meet record in the 200m butterfly, the event that saw comeback lady Richa Mishra add a third gold, though without a record. Shivani kept V. Malavika at bay to win the 400m freestyle gold. Like Srihari, Shivani too was adjudged the best in the championship for the first time.
Railways cruised to the men’s overall championship while Karnataka did the same in the ladies section. Overall, Karnataka was adjudged the best team.
Final results
Men
800m freestyle: 1. Saurabh Sangvekar (Rlys, 8:23.84), 2. Advait Page (MP, 8;25.93), 3. A. S. Anand (Ser, 8;26.76);
100m backstroke: 1. Srihari Nataraj (Kar, 57.20, NMR, old 57.20, 2016), 2. P. S. Madhu (Ser, 57.28), 3. Arvind Mani (Ser, 58.34);
200m butterfly: 1. Sajan Prakash (Ker, 1:59.12, NMR, old 1:59.35, 2016), 2. Supriya Mondal (Rlys, 2:02.91), 3. Avinash Mani (Kar, 2:03.27).
Women
400m freestyle: 1. Shivani Kataria (Har, 4:28.29), 2. V. Malavika (Kar, 4:28.51), 3. Khushi Dinesh (Kar, 4:36.59);
100m backstroke: 1. V. K. R. Meenakshi (TN, 1:07.27), 2. Yuga Bimale (Mah, 1:07.68), 3. Suvana C. Baskar (Kar, 1:08.31);
200m butterfly: 1. Richa Mishra (Pol, 2:22.86), 2. Damini Gowda (Kar, 2:24.08), 3. Trishna Karkhanis (Mah, 2:27.05).
Mixed
4x50m medley relay: Railways (1:51.06, NMR, old 1:53.42, 2016), 2. Karnataka (1:52.62), 3. Maharashtra (1:54.25).
Best swimmer (men): Srihari Nataraj (Karnataka); (women): Shivani Kataria (Haryana).
Team championship (men): Railways (139 points); (women): Karnataka (133 points).
Overall championship: Karnataka (238 points).
Medals tally (top-5, read as Gold-Silver-Bronze=Total):
Karnataka 9-11-10=30;
Railways 7-8-5=20;
Tamil Nadu 5-6-6=17;
Haryana 5-1-0=6;
Kerala 5-0-0=5.
Water polo
Men: 1. Railways, 2. Services, 3. Police;
Women: 1. Maharashtra, 2. Kerala, 3. Police.
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