BHUBANESWAR: KARNATAKA swimmers have taken the pool by storm, ending the 78th National Senior Aquatic Senior Championships with 41 medals in the Kalinga Stadium on Thursday With 16 gold, 11 silver and 14 bronze medals, Karnataka dominated the show in the five-day long meet.
The awards ceremony was all Karnataka’s. Shoan Ganguly rounded off his memorable outing with another meet record in the men’s 400 metre medley final. Ganguly and Dhinidhi Desinghu won the individual awards. In addition to winning team titles (Men: 158 points), (Women 153 points), Karnataka took home the overall championship title, with 311 points. Tamil Nadu finished second in the medal tally with 16 medals - with eight gold, five silver and three bronze medals.
Earlier in the day, Ganguly clocked 4:24.64 seconds, a second faster than the previous record of Aryan Nehra’s from 2023 (4:25.62s) in the medley final. Vihitha Nayana Loganathan secured Karnataka's second gold medal of the day, in the women’s 100m backstroke final.
Tamil Nadu swimmers Danush Suresh (1:03.11s) and M S Yadesh Babu (1:03.81s) won silver and bronze respectively in the men’s 100 metre breaststroke final. Likith Selvaraj of Services finished first with a small margin. (1:03.06s).
Odisha finish seventh
Hosts Odisha concluded the meet with six medals, all won by their women (1G, 2S, 3B). Shrishti Upadhyaya was the star amongst the contingent. She won gold in the women’s 100m butterfly as well as a bronze in the 200m butterfly. Pratyasa Ray bagged two bronze medals in the women’s 200m backstroke event and 100m backstroke event. Odisha’s 4X100m medley team of Pratyasa Ray, Mannata Mishra, Shrishti and Divyanka Divyajyoti Pradhan won the silver medal. On the concluding day, Mannata grabbed a silver medal in the 100m breaststroke event with 1:15.57s.
Mannata's story is one of turning a fear into a source of happiness. The teenager revealed that she was scared of water in her childhood. She never expected to fall in love with swimming.
Aged five, Mannata followed the footsteps of her elder sister Mansita. She joined a summer camp for swimming in 2013, and thereon, her life took a turn for the good. "After joining the academy in the Kalinga Stadium swimming complex, I took swimming seriously and started following the guidelines of my coaches there. Winning a medal in the Olympics may be the dream of every athlete. However, I will tread every step carefully," she told The New Indian Express.
Recently at the KNZ Provincial Championship Durban in South Africa, the teenager rewrote the national record in the 100m breaststroke event with a timing of 1:12.90 sec.
Results(winners):
Overall title: Karnataka - 311 points
Men's: Karnataka - 158 points
Women's: Karnataka - 153 points
Best Swimmer
Men: Shoan Ganguly
Women: Dhinidhi Desinghu
Day 5 events: Women:800m freestyle: Bhavya Sachdeva : 9:09.67
100m backstroke: Vihitha N L : 1:05.18
100m breastroke: Harshitha Jayaram: 1:13.24
Men: 400m medley: Shoan Ganguly: 4:24.64
100m backstroke: Rishabh Anupam Das: 56.13
100m breastroke: Likith Selvaraj: 1:03.06
100m freestyle: Heer Gitesh Shah: 51.29