Maana Patel, Aastha Choudhury set national records at National Aquatic Championships

Maana, whose best mark is 29.30, timed 29.79 to better her 2016 record by 0.10 seconds and win the women’s 50m backstroke title. Astha clocked 1:03.07 to take the 100m butterfly crown.

Maana Patel clocked 29.79 seconds to better her 2016 record by 0.10s and win the women’s 50m backstroke title. | Photo Credit: RITU RAJ KONWAR

Olympian Maana Patel and local favourite Aastha Choudhury hogged the limelight by setting new meet records on the penultimate day of the National Aquatic Championships at the Dr. Zakir Hussain Aquatic Complex here on Friday.

Maana, whose best mark is 29.30, timed 29.79 to better her 2016 record by 0.10 seconds and win the women’s 50m backstroke title.

Astha clocked 1:03.07 to take the 100m butterfly crown and leave behind the 2009 record of 1:03.24 by Arhatha Meghavi.

Guwahati: Swimmer Maana Patel flashes victory sign during the Women's 200m Backstroke event at the 75th Senior National Aquatic Championships, at Zakir Husain Aquatic Complex in Guwahati, Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022. Patel won the gold medal in the event. (PTI Photo)(PTI09_07_2022_000264B) | Photo Credit: -

The 18-year-old Astha, who achieved her best (1:02.71) in 2021, got into the lead in the last 20m before claiming the gold medal.

“I switched to side breathing about a year ago and it helped me. I was expecting to do a record here,” said Astha.

Maana posted a convincing victory to get her third gold. “I am happy that my plan is coming off well. I was aiming at the record in the heats. Then I rested properly and felt a lot better during the final,” said Maana, preparing to compete in the National Games.

The results:

Men: 100m freestyle: 1. Vishal Grewal (Del) 51.59, 2. Pavan Gupta (RSPB) 52.12, 3. Sambhavv R. (Kar) 52.23; 800m freestyle: 1. Aneesh Gowda (Kar) 8:23.17, 2. Anurag Singh (UP) 8:37.75, 3. Sushrut Kapse (RSPB) 8:42.53; 100m butterfly: 1. Harsh Saroha (Har) 55.17, 2. Bikram Changmai (Asm) 55.35, 3. Sambhavv R. (Kar) 55.69; 50m backstroke: 1. Vinayak V. (SSCB) 26.20, 2. Xavier Michael D’Souza (SSCB) 26.92, 3. Tanmay Das (RSPB) 26.93.

Women: 200m freestyle: 1. Dhinidhi Desinghu (Kar) 2:09.29, 2. Shivangi Sarma (Asm) 2:09.50, 3. Rutuja S. (Kar) 2:10.52; 100m butterfly: 1. Astha Choudhury (Asm) 1:03.07 (NMR, previous Arhatha Meghavi, 1:03.24, 2009), 2. Tanishi Gupta (Kar) 1:03.66, 3. Divya Satija (Har) 1:04.11; 50m backstroke: 1. Maana Patel (Guj) 29.79 (NMR, previous Maana, 29.89, 2016), 2. Sagnika Roy (Ben) 31.50, 3. Pratishtha Dangi (Mah) 31.60; 4x200m freestyle relay: 1. Karnataka 8:59.70, 2. Maharashtra 9:06.94, 3. Tamil Nadu 9:21.06; 4x50m mixed freestyle relay: 1. RSPB 1:42.20, 2. Maharashtra 1:42.22, 3. Gujarat 1:43.08.

Diving: Women: 1. Hrutika Shriram (RSPB) 159.10, 2. Palak Sharma (MP) 136.25, 3. Esha Waghmode (Mah) 134.95.