Rehan Poncha of Karnataka and Richa Mishra of Police Team emerged best swimmers with 35 and 33 points respectively in the 63rd Senior National Aquatic Championship, which concluded at the LNCPE Swimming Pool at Kariyavattom here on Saturday.
For Rehan Poncha, this was his first hattrick at the senior nationals. Poncha had clinched gold in 100m and 200 Butterfly, 200m Breast Stroke, 200m Individual Medley, 400m Individual Medley, 4x100 m Freestyle relay, 4x200m Freestyle relay and 4x100m Medley relay.
Richa who got the award for the seventh consecutive time at the nationals won gold medals in 200m Freestyle, 400m Freestyle, 800m Freestyle, 200m Individual Medley and 400m Individual Medley events.
Defending champions Karnataka emerged winners in the Men’s section and Women’s section retaining the overall title with 318 points. Maharashtra finished second in the championship with 176 points and Police team came third with 124 points.
Kerala teams had disappointment in Waterpolo event as well. In the finals held on Saturday, the state team lost to Maharashtra and Railways in the Men’s section and Women’s section respectively. Railways swept the overall title in the Diving competitions with 34 points in the men’s section and women’s section. One more national mark was eclipsed on Saturday.
Mandar A Divase of Police team set a new record in the 1500m Freestyle clocking 16:06.64 seconds smashing the record set by Gagan A P of Karnataka earlier in 2009.
