Karnataka's Desinghu breaks 100m freestyle National record at junior National Aquatic Championships

Dinidhi's time of 1:01.52s was 0.25 seconds faster than Vedika Amin's mark from 2017 and helped win her fifth gold medal of the championship.

The victorious Karnataka swimming contingent at the end of the sub-junior and junior National Aquatic Championships in Bengaluru.

Karnataka's Dinidhi Desinghu came up with her third record-breaking performance of the week, rewriting the girls' Group III 100m freestyle National record, on the final day of the sub-junior and junior National Aquatic Championships at the Basavanagudi Aquatic Centre on Saturday.

Dinidhi's time of 1:01.52s was 0.25 seconds faster than Vedika Amin's mark from 2017 and helped win her fifth gold medal of the championship. The day's other National record was set by Nina Venkatesh in 50m freestyle for Group I girls, where she first erased, in the heats, Suvana Bhaskar's 29.35s from 2018, and then lowered it with a blistering 28.51-second dash in the final.

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In boys' Group I, another home swimmer R. Sambhavv fell six-hundredth of a second short of breaking Virdhawal Khade's 2008 record in 100m freestyle, coming home in 51.39s.

Karnataka, unsurprisingly, was adjudged the team champion in both the boys' and girls' categories, across groups. But the girls' water polo team which had reached a final for the first time in more than a decade, lost to Kerala 7-9.

The results  

Boys: Group I: 100m freestyle: R. Sambhavv (Kar), 51.39; 50m butterfly: Bikram Changmai (Asm), 25.22; Group II: 100m freestyle: Pranjal Pandey (MP), 56.70; 200m backstroke: M. Suhas Preetham (Tel), 2:18.12; 50m butterfly: Jananjoy Jyoti Hazarika (Asm), 26.64; 400m IM: Pavan Dhananjaya (Kar), 4:57.42; Group III: 100m freestyle: Akshaj Thakuria (Kar), 1:02.77; 50m breaststroke: M.S. Nitheesh (TN), 35.19; Group IV: 50m freestyle: Akash Chauhan (UP), 30.57; Group V: 50m freestyle: Jas Singh (Kar), 31.90. Girls: Group I: 100m freestyle: Janhvi Choudhary (Ben), 59.16; 50m butterfly: Nina Venkatesh (Kar) 28.51 (NMR; OR: 28.93, Nina Venkatesh, 2021); 400m IM: Shakthi Balakrishnan (TN), 5:15.69; Group II: 100m freestyle: Ridhima Veerendra Kumar (Kar), 1:00.80; 200m backstroke: Ridhima Veerendra Kumar (Kar), 2:24.26; 50m butterfly: Rishika U.Mangle (Kar), 29.55; Group III: 100m freestyle: Dhinidhi Desinghu (Kar), 1:01.52 (NMR; OR: 1:02.77, Vedika Amin (Mah), 2017); 50m breaststroke: Aurelia Dias (Kar), 39.35; Group IV: 50m freestyle: Zoya Jannat (Ben), 31.61; Group V: 50m freestyle: K. Lasya Sri (AP), 33.52. Best swimmers: Boys: Group I: Swadesh Mondal (Ben) (4 golds, 1 silver, 4 NMRs); Group II: Pavan Dhananjaya (Kar) (5G); Group III: Akshaj Thakuria (Kar) (5G); Group IV: Sharan Sridhara (Kar) (4G, 2S); Group V: Jas Singh (Kar) (6G). Girls: Group I: Apeksha Fernandes (Mah) (3G, 1S, 2NMR); Group II: Ridhima Veerendrakumar (Kar) (5G, 2NMR); Group III: Dinidhi Desinghu (Kar) (5G, 3NMR); Group IV: Alyssa Sweedal Rego (Kar) (3G, 1S); Group V: Adriza Rani Chetia (Asm) (3G, 3S). Diving: Team championships: Boys: Group I: SSCB (26 points); Group II: SSCB (35 pts); Group III: SSCB (29 pts); Girls: Group I: Maharashtra (30 pts); Group II: Madhya Pradesh (35 pts); Group III: Maharashtra (25 pts). Water polo (winners): Boys: Bengal 12 bt Maharashtra 6; Girls: Kerala 9 bt Karnataka 7.