On the first day of the Swimming at National Games competition, there were six swimming events and three were won by Dhinidhi
Fourteen-year-old swimmer Dhinidhi Desinghu was the cynosure of all eyes as she stamped her authority with three gold medals as Karnataka made a splash in the pool, grabbing five gold and two silver to take the top spot in the 38th National Games medal tally in Haldwani/Dehradun on Wednesday.
She was the youngest Indian athlete at Paris Olympics last year.
At the end of the first day of competitions, Karnartaka wes leading with seven medals (5 gold, 2 silver) while Manipur (4 gold, 4 silver) were close second and chased by Maharashtra (2 gold, 3 silver, 3 bronze) third in the standings.
The day definitely belonged to Desinghu, who first won the women’s 200m freestyle event in a Games record time of 2:03.24 seconds, bettering her own national record of 2:04.24 from 2023 National Games in Goa, before adding a gold each in 100m butterfly and 4x100m freestyle events.
The earlier 200m freestyle national record of 2:07.08 was in the name of Desinghu’s state-mate Hashika Ramachandra which was set during the 2022 Games in Gujarat.
Bhavya Sachdeva (2:08.68) of Delhi and Aditi Hegde (2:09.74) of Maharashtra were distant second and third respectively in the women’s 200m freestyle.
Srihari Nataraj, another Paris Olympian, won two gold medals, in men’s 200m freestyle and men’s 4x100m freestyle.
In the women’s 100m butterfly, Desinghu clocked 1:03.62 to claim gold for the second time in the day.
It was 1-2 for Karnataka as Naisha Shetty (1:04.81) took the silver while Shristi Upadhaya (1:05.20) of Odisha grabbed the bronze.
Day was not over for Desinghu as she anchored the Karnataka quartet to women’s 4x100m freestyle gold in a time of 4:01.58.
The other members of the team were Nina Venkatesh, Shalini R Dixit and Latiesha Mandana.
Maharashtra (4:02.17) and Tamil Nadu (4:08.81) won the silver and bronze respectively.
Another Games record was erased with Karnataka in the men’s 4x100m freestyle gold with the team of Srihari Nataraj, Aneesh S Gowda, Akash Mani and Chinatan S Shetty clocking 3:26.26.
Tamil Nadu (3:29.92) and Gujarat (3:32.23) took the silver and bronze respectively.
Olympian Sajan Prakash opened Kerala’s account at the 38th National Games in Uttarakhand with a pair of bronze medals
Nataraj won his second gold of the day, clocking 1:50.57 in the men’s 200m freestyle with state-mate Aneesh S Gowda (1:52.42) and Kerala’s veteran swimmer Sajan Prakash (1:53.73) finishing second and third respectively.
The lone swimming event of the day in which Karnataka did not win a gold was in the men’s 100m butterfly in which Tamil Nadu’s Benediction Rohit stood on top of the podium with a time of 53.89 seconds. Benediction Rohit came extremely close to breaking Sajan’s Games record in 100 m butterfly.
Rohit clocked 53.89 seconds for gold in the event. Sajan, who set the record of 53.79 in 2023 in Goa, finished third on 54.52 this time Maharashtra’s Mihir Ambre clocked 54.24 to take silver
Mihir Ambre (54.24) of Maharashtra was second while Sajan Prakash (54.52) won his second bronze medal of the day.
With Karnataka dominating the medal tally in swimming, the team has set a high benchmark for the days ahead.
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The action continues tomorrow with more thrilling races expected in the pool, we can expect more records to get challenged.
Here is the summary of results
Swimming Results Jan 29
Men’s 200 m Freestyle
1. Srihari Nataraj- Karnataka 1:50.57
2. Aneesh S Gowda -Karnataka 1:52.42
3. Sajan Prakash -Kerala 1:53.73
Women’s 200m Freestyle
1. Dhinidhi Desinghu-Karnataka 2:03.24(Best Indian Time)
2. Bhavya Sachdeva- Delhi 2:08.68
3. Aditi Satish Hegde- Maharashtra 2:09.7
Men’s 100m Butterfly
1. Benediction Rohit- Tamilnadu 53.89
2. Mihir Ambre-Maharashtra 54.24
3. Sajan Prakash- Kerala 54.52
Women’s 100m Butterfly
1. Dhinidhi Desinghu- Karnataka 1:03.62
2. Naisha Shetty-Karnataka 1:04.81
3. Shristi Upadhaya- Odisha 1:05.20
Men’s 4x100m Freestyle
1. Karnataka -3:26.26(NMR)
2. Tamilnadu -3:29.92
3. Gujarat -3:32.23
Women’s 4x100m Freestyle
1. Karnataka-4:01.58
2. Maharashtra -4:02.17
3. Tamilnadu-4:08.81
