Pune: Dubai-based but Pune-bred Utkarsh Gor gave Maharashtra a rousing start by winning two gold medals, one in freestyle and one backstroke in the 34th National Sub-Junior Aquatic championship at the Balewadi Sports Complex Swimming Pool, here on Wednesday.
A Standard V student of Delhi Public School, Dubai, Utkarsh won 50m freestyle and 50m backstroke gold medals, the second coming with a New National Record.
Utkarsh was home in 34.30 seconds beating Manipur’s Athouba Meitei (36.06) and teammate Rishabh Das (36.19). In setting the new record, Utkarsh bettered him own mark of 34.88 he had achieved earlier in the day in Heats.
In the 50m freestyle event, Utkarsh got the better of Basit Ahemed of Assam (31.40) and Athouba Meitei (32.30).
“I had won one gold and two bronze medals in the CBSE National Championship held in Bhopal last year and wanted to do better here,” said Utkarsh, who last year won Pune District individual championship in his age category.
Utkarsh at fore
There is no stopping Utkarsh, who is good at academics too. A Sports Prefect of his school and Student Representative, Utkarsh had won three gold medals and an individual championship in the UAE Inter-School CBSE Cluster Swimming competition.
Later in the day, Utkarsh returned to the pool and claimed the title of being the fastest swimmer in the Boys Group IV (Under-10) category by winning his second gold of the day in the 50 m freestyle clocking 30.55 seconds.
Girls shine
Mumbai’s Vedika Amin gave second gold for Maharashtra after Sanjiti Saha had claimed the first in 100m butterfly event in the Girl’s Under-12 category.
Vedika won the Girls 50m breaststroke gold with a time of 36.49 seconds. Apeksha Fernandes joined her in winning bronze (37.85), while Samara Chacko won silver for Karnataka (37.85).
The Under-12 Maharashtra Girls swum a superlative race to break the national record in the 4x50m Freestyle relay, bettering their own record time set in the morning. The quartet of Sanjiti Saha, Apeksha Fernandes, Palak Dhami and Vedika Amin clocked 1:59.40.
The Girls 100m butterfly race was a contest between two Mumbai girls-Sanjiti, who trains at Khar Gymkhana, and Palak Dhami of Glenmark Aquatic Foundation.
Both of them smashed the National record with Sanjiti winning gold with a New record of 1 minute 07.77 seconds and Palak claiming silver by bettering the meet record (1:08.82).
Maharashtra won the last race of the day to maintain a comfortable lead at the top of the table. The team comprising Utkarsh Gor, Armaan Jetha,Vivaan Thakur and Rishabh Das won gold with a time of 2:09.55 in the 4x50m freestyle relay. Assam grabbed its sixth silver with a time of 2:10.01and Delhi settled for bronze with 2:14.23.
Results:
Boys:
Under-12:
200m Freestyle: 1. Shoan Ganguly (Goa) 2:08.48, 2. Mayank Solanki (Del) 2:15.81, 3. Krishna Pranav S (TN) 2:18.19.
100m Butterfly: 1. Shoan Ganguly (Goa) 1:02.75, NMR, 2. Anubhab Parashar (Asm) 1:03.63, 3. Sahil Laskar (Ben) 1:03.84.
50m Breaststroke: 1. Surabin Reang (Tri) 35.06s, 2. Suraj Chauhan (UP) 35.68, 3. Jashua Thomas (TN) 36.57 and Mohammed Rehan Mirza (Asm) 36.57.
Under-10:
50m Freestyle: 1. Utkarsh Gor (Mah) 30.55s, 2. Basit Ahemed (Asm) 31.40, 3. S Athouba Meitei (Man) 32.30.
50m Backstroke: 1. Utkarsh Gor (Mah) 34.30s, NMR, 2. S. Athouba Meitei (Man) 36.06, 3. Rishabh Das (Mah) 36.19.
4 x 50m Freestyle: 1. Maharashtra 2:09.55, 2. Assam 2:10.01, 3. Delhi 2:14.23.
Girls:
Under-12:
200m Freestyle: 1. Shakthi Balakrishnan (TN) 2:19.52, 2. Aanya Wala (Mah) 2:20.88, 3. Apeksha Fernandes (Mah) 2:21.54.
100m Butterfly: 1. Sanjiti Saha (Mah) 1:07.77, NMR, 2. Palak Dhami (Mah) 1:08.82, 3. Shakrhi Balakrishnan (TN) 1:12.46.
50m Breaststroke: 1. Vedika Amin (Mah) 36.49s, 2. Samara Chacko (Kar) 36.98, 3. Apeksha Fernandes (Mah) 37.85.
4 x 50m Freestyle: 1. Maharashtra 1:59.40, NMR, 2. Karnataka 2:02.52, 3. Assam 2:05.30.
Under-10:
50m Freestyle: 1. Jahnabi Kashyap (Asm) 30.88s, NMR, 2. Ridhima Kumar (Kar) 30.91, 3. Haasini Prabhakar (TN) 32.65.
50m Backstroke: 1. Ridhima Kumar (Kar) 35.51, NMR, 2. Jahnabi Kashyap (Asm) 37.04, 3. Aashna Mattur (Kar) 37.43.
4x50m Freestyle: 1. Karnataka 2:12.76, 2. Assam 2:17.08, 3. Maharashtra 2:18.62.
