Palak Joshi (Maharashtra) scripted a new women’s 200m Backstroke National Record and put her hand up for selection in the Indian team for the Asian Games later this year with a victory on the final day of the National Aquatics Championships in the GMC Balayogi Sports Complex swimming pool in Hyderabad on Wednesday.
The 17-year-old Palak Joshi clocked 2:18.90 in the final to improve on the time 2:19.30 that Maana Patel had set in Rajkot in 2015. With the Asian Games qualifying standard (sixth place time of 2:14.68 in the final in the last edition in Jakarta a fair distance away), she dipped in well clear of the eighth place time of 2:21.25 in the Jakarta final.
In 2015, the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports laid down the sixth place time of the last Asian Games as the qualifying standard for individual athletes in measurable disciplines. But since the Swimming Federation of India circulated the eighth place times from the last Asian Games, it would seem that it has opened a window of possibilities for Palak Joshi.
Interestingly, at the valedictory ceremony, Swimming Federation of India Secretary-General Monal Choksi said India would field its largest Aquatics squad in the Asian Games in Hangzhou, with team from Swimming, including possibly a women’s representation for the first time since 2006, Diving and Water polo, in which the National team would feature after 37 years.
Karnataka’s AK Linyesha, 16, and Dhinidhi Desinghu, 13, also broke National Records in the 100m Breaststroke and 200m Freestyle finals respectively. Linyesha sped past Chahat Arora’s mark by touching the wall in 1:12.67 in a race in which the erstwhile record holder finished in an unfamiliar seventh place. It was her second gold and she was named the best female swimmer.
Aryan Nehra (Gujarat) secured his fourth gold with a Meet Record in the men’s 400m Individual Medley on Wednesday to make this National Championship his very own. He was easily the standout athlete of the meet and it was quite natural that the Florida-based 19-year-old was named the best male swimmer of the championships
There were also new Meet marks for Likith Selvaraj Prema (Services) in the men’s 100m Breaststroke and Nina Venkatesh (Karnataka) in the women’s 100m Butterfly finals. Combined with the meet records in the men and women’s 4x100m Freestyle relays, the number of Meet Records went up to 18, eight of them being National Records as well.
The men’s 100m Butterfly final produced a great race between Sajan Prakash (Services) and Mihir Ambre, with the former having to dig deep into the reserves of his energy to find the pace over the last 25m to frustrate his competitor from Maharashtra. Advait Page (Madhya Pradesh), who had endured disappointment in Hyderabad, picked up gold in the men’s 200m Backstroke.
The results (final):
Men
200m Freestyle: 1. Tanish George Mathew (Karnataka) 1:52.10; 2. Aneesh S Gowda (Karnataka) 1:52.18; 3. Kushagra Rawat (Delhi 1:52.87.
200m Backstroke: 1. Advait Page (Madhya Pradesh) 2:04.64; 2. Utkarsh S Patil (Karnataka) 2:06.01; 3. Devansh Parmar (Gujarat) 2:07.04.
100m Breaststroke: 1. Likith Selvaraj Prema (Services) 1:02.30 (New Meet Record. Old: 1:02.69, Likith Selvaraj Prema, 2019); 2. Danush Suresh (Tamil Nadu) 1:02.94; 3. Adarsh M (Kerala) 1:04.70.
100m Butterfly: 1. Sajan Prakash (Police) 54.04 seconds; 2. Mihir Ambre (Maharashtra) 54.53; 3. Rohit Benedicton (Tamil Nadu) 54.80.
400m Individual Medley: 1. Aryan Nehra (Gujarat) 4:25.62 (New Meet Record. Old: 4:30.13, Rehan Poncha, Thiruvananthapuram, 2009); 2. Shoan Ganguly (Karnataka) 4:33.90; 3. Yug Chelani (Rajasthan) 4:38.80.
4x100m Freestyle relay: 1. Karnataka (Aneesh Gowda, Prithvi M, R Sambhavv, Tanish George Mathew) 3:28.16 (New Meet Record. Old: 3:29.32, Railways, Kolkata, 2014); 2. Maharashtra 3:29.31; 3. Tamil Nadu 3:29.60.
Women
200m Freestyle: 1. Dhinidhi Desinghu (Karnataka) 2:04.24 (New National & Meet Records. Old NR: 2:04.32, Shivani Kataria, Bangkok, 2015; Old MR: 2:05.80, Shivani Kataria, Bhopal, 2019); 2. Hashika Ramachandra (Karnataka) 2:07.64; 3. Anannya Nayak (Maharashtra) 2:09.24.
200m Backstroke: 1. Palak Joshi (Maharashtra) 2:18.90 New National & Meet Records. Old NR & MR: 2:19.30, Maana Patel, Rakjot, 2015); 2. Soubrity Mondal (Bengal) 2:23.05; 3. Pratishtha Dangi (Maharashtra) 2:23.89.
100m Breaststroke: 1. AK Linyesha (Karnataka) 1:12.67 (New National & Meet Records. Old NR & MR: 1:13.61, Chahat Arora, Guwahati, 2022); 2. Manavi Varma (Karnataka) 1:13.57; 3. Harshitha Jayaram (Railways) 1:14.66.
100m Butterfly: 1. Nina Venkatesh (Karnataka) 1:02.51 (New Meet Record. Old: 1:03.24, Arhatha Magavi, 2009); 2. Anannya Nayak (Maharashtra) 1:03.27; 3. Divya Satija (Haryana) 1:03.62.
400m Individual Medley: 1. S Lakshya (Karnataka)5:10.93; 2. Richa Mishra (Police) 5:15.79; 3. Shrungi Bandekar (Goa) 5:17.92.
4x100m Freestyle: 1. Maharashtra (Rujuta Khade, Ariaa Sheth, Aanya Wala, Anannya Nayak) 4:02.24 (New Meet Record. Old: 4:02.90, Maharashtra, Bhopal, 2019); 2. Railways 4:03.53; 3. Karnataka 4:04.48.
Note: The Swimming Federation of India calls the National Records as Best Indian Performances and the National Championship records as the National Records. However, the results above follow the conventional pattern of terming the best performance by an Indian as the National Record and the best performance in the National Championships as the Meet Record. The National Records have been sourced from the FINA website.
Photo: Palak Joshi (Courtesy Replay Physiotherapy Facebook page)
