National Games: Swimmers Advait Page, Bhavya Sachdeva hog limelight

Advait’s main rival Sajan Prakash pulled out of the final due a niggle and the MP lad preserved his energy in the first half of the race which saw Gujarat’s Aryan Nehra and Karnataka's Aneesh Gowda keeping pace with the favourite.

FILE PHOTO: Advait Page stretches before the start in the men’s 1500 meters freestyle swimming final at the Commonwealth Games on August 3, 2022. | Photo Credit: AP

Advait Page didn't go all out and swam well within himself yet he dominated the men’s 1500m freestyle to set a new games record on the second day of the swimming events of the 36th National Games at the Sardar Patel Aquatic complex here on Monday.

Delhi’s Bhavya Sachdeva underlined her growing stature by setting a new mark in women’s 800m race while S. Lakshya broke the record twice in 200m breaststroke to hog the limelight on the day which saw Karnataka women set a new mark in 4x100m medley relay.

Advait’s main rival Sajan Prakash pulled out of the final due a niggle and the Madhya Pradesh lad preserved his energy in the first half of the race which saw Gujarat’s Aryan Nehra and Karnataka's Aneesh Gowda keeping pace with the favourite. However, Advait pulled ahead after the 800 metres and took a sufficient lead as others faded away. Advait clocked a slow 15:54.79s to break Sajan Prakash’s old mark (15:55.78) set in 2015. Aryan took the silver while Aneesh finished with the bronze medal.

In the women’s 800m freestyle event, Vritti Agarwal and Ashmita Chandra stalked Bhavya for the first 200 metres. However, the Delhi girl went into the clear lead after 300m and set the pace alone to break the record in 9:15.24.

In one of the better contested finals, Karnataka’s S. Lakshya beat back a late challenge from Chahat Arora to win the women’s 200m breaststroke event. Lakshya, who broke the existing record in the heats in the morning, was off to a fine start and took an early lead. However, Chahat Arora who was in fourth position at the home stretch overtook Harshitha and Kalayani and pushed Lakshya who managed to cling on to her lead to set a new record (2:42.63). The Karnataka 4x100m relay squad of Ridhima, Manavi, Tanishi and Nina set a new record by clocking 4:27.78s.

The Results:

Men: 1500m freestyle: 1. Advait Page (MP) (15:54.79s- NGR; OR – 15:55.78, Sajan Prakash, Kerala, 2015), 2. Aryan Nehra (Guj), 3. Aneesh S. Gowda (Kar); 200m breaststroke: 1. S.P. Likith (SSCB) (2:16.40), 2. S. Danush (TN), 3. Swadesh Mondal (SSCB)4X100m medley relay: 1. SSCB (3:49.67), 2. Karnataka, 3. Delhi.

Women: 800m freestyle: 1. Bhavya Sachdeva (Del) (9:15.24 – NGR; OR – 9:15.30, Aakansha Vora ,Maharashtra, 2015), 2. Vritti Agarwal (Tel), 3. Ashmitha Chandra (Kar); 200m breaststroke: S. Lakshya (Kar) (2:42.63 – NGR; OR – 2:45.96, Lakshya, 2022), 2. Chahat Arora (Pun), 3. Harshitha Jayaram (Kar); 4x100m medley: 1. Karnataka (4:27.78 – NGR; OR – 4:32.38, Maharashtra, 2015), 2. Karnataka, 3. Bengal.