CHENNAI: Shriya Ishwar Prasad won gold in Group III girls’ 50m breaststroke at the 35th sub-junior and 45th junior national championships in Pune on Tuesday. The third day of the tournament saw Tamil Nadu win eight medals (one gold, three silver, four bronze).
Shriya, a 12-year-old swimmer from Chennai who trains at ORCA, clocked 37.84s. Karnataka’s Hitaishi V (38.16s) and Swastika Patra of West Bengal (39.22s) finished second and third, respectively.
Shriya was also a part of the relay team from Tamil Nadu which won gold in Group III’s medley event.
When asked about her win, Shriya said: “Without my parents’ support, I wouldn’t have won. I put in a lot of effort to achieve this feat. When I got into the water, I kept telling myself that I was capable of winning, and that I had the endurance to outlast my competitors.”
Results (Tamil Nadu swimmers only): Girls: Group I: Bhavika Dugar (1500m freestyle bronze). Group II: B Shakthi (400m freestyle bronze). Group III: Shriya Ishwar Prasad (50m breaststroke gold); K Akshita, J Thanuja, Shriya Ishwar Prasad and S Tanisha Yadav (4x50m medley silver). Group IV: Adwika G Nair (100m freestyle silver), R Caroline Candy Charles (100m freestyle bronze). Boys: Group III: H Nithik (100m freestyle silver), Vissesh Parameswar Sharma (100m freestyle bronze).