Beijing Olympic-qualified Virdhawal Khade, Lekha Kamath adjudged best swimmers
By Pervez Bari, TwoCircles.net
Bhopal : Karnataka were crowned overall team champions while Maharashtra had to be content with the runners-up tag at the conclusion of 34th Junior National Aquatic Championship here at the Prakash Taran Pushkar. In all there were 28 new National records set during the championship with the boys claiming 13 and girls 15.
Karnataka swimmers made their strong presence in the championship by winning gold medals and setting new records from the beginning of the events on the inaugural day. Karnataka stood first in the boys" team championship with 169 points. In the girls' category Karnataka bagged the first position with 227 points.
Maharashtra, which has swimmers like Beijing Olympic-qualified Virdhawal Khade, Lekha Kamath and others failed to stop the Karnataka brigade from winning the overall team championship. This can be gauged from the fact that the best swimmers of individual categories were won by the Maharashtra swimmers. Virdhawal Khade and Lekha Kamath of Maharashtra were adjudged best swimmers in the boys and girls categories respectively.
Lekha hogged the limelight as she won six gold medals, most by any swimmer here, and had three National records to her credit. Karnataka even failed to grab the second position in both the categories.
Khade set the pool ablaze with a dazzling show in the feature event of the day as he clocked the best time ever by an Indian in the 100m freestyle, on the concluding day. He was home in 51.41 seconds breaking his own records, both in the senior and junior category.
The Maharashtra swimmer had set the national mark of 51.46s at the World championships in Melbourne on March 29 this year, two days after he had clocked 1:52.41 in the 200m freestyle to qualify for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. He also held the junior National record of 54.02s he had achieved last year in Chennai.
Khade In total, Khade won five gold medals all with new National record timings in the championship and is destined for more glory as he prepares for the international season starting with the Japan Open next month.
Meanwhile, J. Agnishwar of Tamil Nadu also excelled by winning five gold medals, the last one coming as he won the 200m individual medley with a new National record. Agnishwar clocked 2 minutes 12.75 seconds to beat the competition by a mile. In the process Agnishwar cut 1.58 seconds off the four-year-old record held by Rehan Poncha (2:14.33).
Delhi’s Praveen Tokas also had his share of glory as he won his second gold medal with a new National record. In the 200m backstroke, Tokas clocked 2:11.46, to better Rohith Hawaldar’s (2:13.51) time set in 2006.
In the water polo championship, Bengal won the gold defeating Kerala 10-7 in the boys’ final. Punjab took the bronze beating pre-tournament favorite, Maharashtra, 10-8. In the girls’ section, Maharashtra beat Kerala 8-3 to remain undefeated and win gold. Kerala settled for silver and Karnataka bronze.
Meanwhile, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan presented the prizes to the winners of the Championship. ([email protected])