Srihari, Kenisha clock personal best times to lend stature to All-India Invitational Meet

India’s top backstroke swimmer Srihari Nataraj clocked a personal best of 25.46 seconds in the 50m in the SFI All-India Invitational Swimming Competition at the Padukone-Dravid Centre of Sports Excellence pool in Bengaluru last week. It was the only race that he swam as he is preparing for the Uzbekistan Open Summer Swimming Championships in Tashkent from April 12 to 17. 

Wearing the Dolphin Aquatics Seniors colours, Srihari Nataraj was off to a blazing start and touched home four-hundredths of a second faster than his previous best of 25.50 seconds clocked on August 23, 2019 in the FINA World Junior Swimming Championships in Budapest. He had clocked a similar time in the Karnataka State Swimming Championships earlier last month.

Srihari Nataraj, who breached the Olympic Selection Time (B standard) in 100m Backstroke with a 54.69 showing in the World Juniors, will chase the Olympic Qualifying Time (A standard) of 53.85 seconds in Tashkent to ensure an automatic berth in the Tokyo Olympic Games, scheduled for later this year.

Among the women swimmers, 18-year-old Kenisha Gupta (Maharashtra) established herself as the country’s top swimmer by improving her personal best times in the women’s 50m and 100m Freestyle with 26.68 seconds and 57.57 seconds, both being the best times clocked by an Indian at home. 

With previous bests of 26.73 and 57.71 recorded in Singapore National Championships on June 22, 2019 and in the Asian Age-Group Championships on September 27, 2019 respectively, Kenisha Gupta gave an indication of her form with 26.73 and 58.06 efforts in the Karnataka State Swimming Championships in the first week of March. 

It is a pity that Kenisha Gupta did not have to race against Aditi Dhumatkar (Railways) in either race in the All-India Invitational in Bengaluru as they were drawn in separate heats because the latter did not have registered times this season. In the event, Aditi Dhumatkar clocked 26.72 – her first sub-27 time – and 58.18 respectively for personal bests.

Swimming fans could only be left to wonder how electrifying the competition would have been the well-prepared freestylers been racing each another. It remains to be seen if the Swimming Federation of India (SFI) and the World Swimming Federation (FINA) recognise the times clocked in the Bengaluru meet.

The Swimming Federation of India came up with the idea of conducting an All-India Invitational Competition four days after scrapping the National Championships, scheduled to be held in Rajkot from March 24 to 27. In its notification, SFI said the meet would be an opportunity for the country’s senior swimmers to end the year with their best performance.

By the looks of it, many swimmers who were part of the National Camp and underwent tests by the noted swim physiologist Dr. Genadijus Sokolovas did not consider the All-India Invitational as either an opportunity to clock some good times in 2021 or even as part of their preparations for the season ahead.

The results: 

Men:

50m Freestyle: 1. D Adhithya (Dolphin Aquatics Senior) 23.68 seconds; 2. Viraj Prabhu (Railways) 24.09; 3. P Vikas (Dolphin Aquatics Senior) 24.10.

100m Freestyle: 1. D Adhithya (Dolphin Aquatics Senior) 52.13 seconds; 2. Veer Khatkar (Haryana) 52.47; 3. AS Anand (Services) 52.50.

200m Freestyle: 1. Vishal Grewal (Delhi) 1:55.76; 2. Kapil Devidas Shetty (Maharashtra) 1:57.48; 3. Aneesh S Gowda (Pooja Aquatic Centre) 1:58.07.

400m Freestyle: 1. Vishal Grewal (Delhi) 4:06.55; 2. Aneesh S Gowda (Pooja Aquatic Centre) 4:07.49; 3. Kuntal Giri (Services) 4:19.11.

800m Freestyle: 1. Aneesh S Gowda (Pooja Aquatic Centre) 8:39.47; 2. Arun Dev (Services) 9:01.65; 3. Sachin Maurya (Services) 9:12.36.

1500m Freestyle: 1. Aneesh S Gowda (Pooja Aquatic Centre) 16:29.83; 2. Krishna Rajendra Gadakh (Madhya Pradesh) 17:22.20; 3. D Pavan (Pooja Aquatic Centre) 17:23.10.

50m Backstroke: 1. Srihari Nataraj (Dolphin Aquatics Senior) 25.46 seconds; 2. K Abbasuddin (Railways) 28.01; 3. P Praveen (Services) 28.68.

100 Backstroke: 1. K Abbasuddin (Railways) 1:00.00; 2. P Praveen (Services) 1:02.33; 3. Ankit Singh (Services)  1:04.17.

200m Backstroke: 1. K Abbasuddin (Railways) 2:10.91; 2. Utkarsh S Patil (Basavanagudi Aquatic Centre) 2:11.03; 3. B Sai Nihar (Telangana) 2:18.90.

50m Breaststroke: 1. S Danush (Dolphin Aquatics Senior) 29.31 seconds; 2. Lohit Mogili (Railways) 29.49; 3. Jay Prakash Ekbote (Dolphin Aquatics Senior) 30.23.

100m Breaststroke: 1. SP Likith (Vijayanagar Aquatic Centre) 1:02.46; 2. S Danush (Dolphin Aquatics Senior) 1:03.84; 3. Lohit Mogili (Railways) 1: 04.19.

200m Breaststroke: 1. Lohit Mogili (Railways) 2:19.78; 2. S Danush (Dolphin Aquatics Senior) 2:22.16; 3. Vidhit S Shankar (Dolphin Aquatics Senior) 2:22.81.

50m Butterfly: 1. D Adhithya (Dolphin Aquatics Senior) 25.06 seconds; 2. Bikram Changmai (Assam) 25.38; 3. Harsh Saroha (Haryana) 25.49.

100m Butterfly: 1. Bikram Changmai (Assam) 55.85; 2. Harsh Saroha (Haryana) 56.56; 3. Pratham Sharma (Dolphin Aquatics Senior) 58.51.

200m Butterfly: 1, Bikram Changmai (Assam) 2:04.02; 2, Harsh Saroha (Haryana) 2:07.25; 3. Utkarsh S Patil (Basavanagudi Aquatic Centre) 2:07.66.

200m Medley: 1. Swadesh Mondal (Bengal) 2:12.02; 2. Emil Robin Singh (Railways) 2:13.12; 3. Vishal Grewal (Delhi) 2:13.83.

400m Medley: 1. Emil Robin Singh (Railways) 4:41.36; 2. Swadesh Mondal (Bengal) 4:47.55; 3. Aneesh S Gowda (Pooja Aquatic Centre) 4:49.54

Women

50m Freestyle: 1. Kenisha Gupta (Maharashtra) 26.68 seconds; 2. Aditi Dhumatkar (Railways) 26.72; 3. Shivangi Sarma (Assam) 27.65.

100m Freestyle: 1. Kenisha Gupta (Maharashtra) 57.57 seconds; 2. Aditi Dhumatkar (Railways) 58.18; 3. Shivangi Sarma (Assam) 59.40.

200m Freestyle: 1. Shivangi Sarma (Assam) 2:10.56; 2. Shirin (Pooja Aquatic Centre) 2:16.17; 3. Kiara Uday Bangera (Maharashtra) 2:17.03.

400m Freestyle: 1. Shivangi Sarma (Assam) 4:37.05; 2. Vritti Agarwal ( Telangana) 4:46.49; 3. Shirin (Pooja Aquatic Centre) 4:49.92.

800m Freestyle: 1. Vritti Agarwal (Telangana) 9:45.15; 2. Shirin (Pooja Aquatic Centre) 9:48.34; 3. Kanya Nayyar (Madhya Pradesh) 9:51.35.

1500m Freestyle: 1. Vritti Agarwal (Telangana) 18:46.66; 2. Shirin (Pooja Aquatic Centre) 10:02.37; 3. Rithika BM (Pooja Aquatic Centre) 19:41.40.

50m Backstroke: 1. Suvana C Baskar (Dolphin Aquatics Senior) 30.83 seconds; 2. Shrungi Rajesh Bandekar (Goa) 32.03; 3. Soubrity Mondal (Bengal) 32.05.

100m Backstroke: 1. Soubrity Mondal (Bengal) 1:07.41; 2. Palak Joshi (Maharashtra) 1:08.99; 3. Pratyasa Ray (Odisha) 1:10.04.

200m Backstroke: 1. Soubrity Mondal (Bengal) 2:26.29; 2. Palak Joshi (Maharashtra) 2:29.89; 3. Shrungu Rajesh Bandekar (Goa) 2:32.69.

50m Breaststroke: 1. Anvita A Gowda (Dolphin Aquatics Senior) 35.56 seconds; 2. Zaara Jabbar (Maharashtra) 35.91; 3. Tanisha Chheda (Maharashtra) 36.12.

100m Breaststroke: 1. Tanisha Chheda (Maharashtra) 1:20.61; 2. Zaara Jabbar (Maharashtra) 1:20.79; 3. Anushka Sayaji Patil (Maharashtra) 1:21.71.

200m Breaststroke: 1. Zaara Jabbar (Maharashtra) 2:53.09; 2. Anushka Sayaji Patil (Maharashtra) 2:53.24; 3. S Lakshya (Pooja Aquatic Centre) 2:58.30.

50m Butterfly: 1. Nina Venkatesh (Dolphin Aquatics Senior) 28.75 seconds; 2. Divya Satija (Dolphin Aquatics Senior) 28.94; 3. Astha Choudhury (Assam) 29.67.

100m Butterfly: 1. Astha Choudhury (Assam) 1:04.64; 2. Kanya Nayyar (Madhya Pradesh) 1:05.01; 3. Nina Venkatesh (Dolphin Aquatics Senior) 1:05.74.

200m Butterfly: 1. Astha Choudhury (Assam) 2:25.74; 2, Kanya Nayyar (Madhya Pradesh) 2:25.87; 3. Srishti Nag (Dolphin Aquatics Senior) 2:32.57.

200m Medley: 1. Kenisha Gupta (Maharashtra) 2:27.92; 2. Shrungi Rajesh Bandekar (Goa) 2:31.40; 3. Soubrity Mondal (Bengal) 2:33.50.

400m Medley: 1. Kanya Nayyar (Madhya Pradesh) 5:19.65; 2. Shrungi Rajesh Bandekar (Goa) 5:28.99; 3. Rithika B M (Pooja Aquatic Centre) 5:31.49.