Saloni Dalal sets new national record at 70th National Aquatic Championship

Indian swimmer Saloni Dalal created a new national record by more than two seconds to clinch gold in the 200m Breaststroke event on Day Four of the 70th Glenmark Senior National Aquatic Championships here on Wednesday.

Dalal, who hails from Karnataka, finished the 200m Breaststroke with a time of 02:44.37 to beat the existing record of 02:46.49.Dalal, who hails from Karnataka, finished the 200m Breaststroke with a time of 02:44.37 to beat the existing record of 02:46.49.

In addition, she broke a 19-year old record the best time in this event by an Indian set by Sajani Shetty of Karnataka in the National Games who had clocked 02:46.39, Sayani Ghosh from Bengal also bettered the National record to win her second medal of the day in as many races winning silver with a time of 02:45.09.

Jubilant with her feat, Saloni said, "after the first 100m, I found Sayani was very close and changed my strategy, taking longer and quicker strokes. I wanted to finish the last 100m in 1:21 or 1:22 but I did 1:19. I concentrated on the short strokes as I wanted to conserve my energy for the last leg. I even modified my turn a little after i hit my head while turning the heats."

The second national record came at the final event of the day.

The Railways men's team comprising of Sajan Prakash, Aaron Dsouza, Sanu Debnath and Saurabh Sangvekar created a new national record in the 4X200m relay as they clocked 7:45.24s to rewrite their own one-year-old record of 7:48.34s.

Services clinched silver with a time of 07:54.52 while bronze went to Karnataka, who clocked 08:04.68.

The first event of the day saw Railways' Saurabh Sangvekar, the national record holder, pit against formidable opponents. Saurabh swimming in Lane 1 won the event comfortably with a time of 08:26.99. K Mitesh Manoj of Services won silver with a time of 8:35.32 while Avinash Mani of Karnataka took the bronze with a time of 8:35.73.

The Second event of the day saw Sayani Ghosh of Bengal establish her class with an extremely comfortable victory in the event which decides the best overall swimmer the 4X100 IM. Sayani claimed gold with a time of 05:10.57 while Shraddha Sudhir of Karnataka claimed silver with a time of 05:24.71 while Shrishti Nag of Chattisgarh won bronze with 05:26.62.

Sanu Debnath of Railways established himself as the best overall swimmer winning the 4X100m IM. Sanu won gold with a time of 4:36.95. T Emil Robin Singh of Tamil Nadu won silver with a time of 04:39.27 while Supriyo Mondal of Railways won bronze with a time of 04:42.14.

The 200m butterfly Men saw a clinical performance from Sandeep Sejwal of Railways to clinch the gold with a time of 02:15.28. Likith S P of Karnataka won silver with a time of 02:19.99 while Arun S of services won bronze with a time of 02:21.05.

Aditi Dhumatkar of Maharashtra swam a fantastic race to emerge as the fastest women swimmer winning the gold with a time of 26.98. She narrowly beat her state mate Avantika Chavan who won silver with a time of 27.13 while Maana Patel of Gujarat won bronze with a time of 27.73.

Aaron D'Souza representing Railways emerged as the fastest male swimmer in the Event winning the 50m freestyle with a time of 23.29. Anshul Kothari of Gujarat won silver with a time of 23.31 whil Sahil Chopra won bronze with a time of 23.53.

The Girls from Maharashtra continued their superb performance easily winning the 4X200 m relay. Maharashtra represented by Aditi Dhumatkar, Rayna Saldanha, Monique Gandhi and Aakansha Buchade won with a time of 09:03.06 followed by Karnataka with a time of 09:13.30. The bronze was won by the girls from Bengal with a time of 09:26.58.