CHENNAI: The Tirunelveli District Swimming Association (TDSA) has got a good reason to be happy about. The TDSA swimmers succeeded in making a mark at the 35th subjunior and 45th junior state aquatic meet in Chennai after they amassed 55 medals — 29 gold, 12 silver, 14 bronze. MS Nitheesh was one of the biggest contributors for TDSA, winning six gold medals — 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 50m backstroke, 50m breaststroke, 200m individual medley, 50m butterfly — in the Group 5 category. Other standout performers were VB Viswa Bharath, B Benediction Rohit and SA Selvarevathy. Coach S Karnan is understandably a delighted man.
“We have performed better than last time around. Last year we have won 38 medals overall and this year medal tally has increased which says that we have done a good job,” he said. Asked about who gave them a tough competition, Karnan said, “TSPA’s D Adhithya (individual champ) was fast and a couple of swimmers from Turtles did very well too. They deserve the top position,” he added. Turtles finished as overall champions with 281 points ahead of TSPA and Karnan’s boys, who settled for the third spot. V Leonard of TDSA, who won a gold medal in the 9th Asian Age Group Championship in 2017, clinched gold (100m backstroke) and a bronze medal (400m freestyle).
“It was all about the hard work which has paid off. The preparations for the state aquatic event was started three months ago and I used to train for 4.5 hours per day.” Standings: Overall championship: Boys: Turtles 281 points; Girls: SDAT Dolphin 299; overall boys and girls SDAT Dolphin 546. Team
Championship: Boys: Group 1: TSPA, 114; Group 2: TSPA, 86; Group 3: Turtles, 75; Group 4: Turtles, 59, Group 5: SDAT ASP, 79; Group 6: SDAT Dolphin, 56. Girls: Group 1: Vels, 87; Group 2: SDAT Dolphin, 81; Group 3: SDAT Dolphin, 96; Group 4: Marina, 41. Group 5: SDAT ASP, 73; Group 6: SDAT Dolphin, 68. Individual Championship: Group 1: Boys: D Adhithya (TSPA, 35); Girls: Bhavika Dugar (Jenney’s, 35); Group 2: Boys: S Krishna Pranav (ORCA, 33); Girls: Adithi Balaji (INDUSS DXB, 35); Group 3: Boys: Vissesh Parameswar Sharma (Prime Star DXB, 28); Girls: K Akshita (SDAT Dolphin, 26); J Thanuja (SDAT Trichy, 26); Group 4: Boys: Sai Aditya (ORCA, 29); Girls: Sarojini Saminathan (NLC, 27); Group 5: Boys: MS Nitheesh (TDSA Tirunelveli, 42); Girls: N Shree Nithi (TSPA, 38); Group 6: Boys: K Mitesh (SDAT Dolphin, 25); Girls: Madhu Shree (SDAT Dolphin, 31).