Sport - Swimming   

Shikha, Akbar adjudged best swimmers

By Khalyan N. Ashok

Karnataka's Shikha Tandon (left) and Akbar Ali Mir of RSPB are all smiles after being adjudged the best swimmers in the women's and men's section in the 57th senior National aquatic championship in Kolkata on Monday. — Photo: K. Gopinathan

KOLKATA Sept. 22. The curtains came down on the 57th Senior National aquatic championship at the Subhas Sarobar Pool here on Monday on a triumphant note for Karnataka, which retained the overall championship with 287 points.

Shikha Tandon emerged the golden girl of the meet, as she was adjudged the best swimmer in the women's section, while Akbar Ali Mir of Railways, the local hero, took the honours in the men's section.

The six day championship spawned a total of nine National marks and 15 new meet records, which speaks for the high quality of the competition and it certainly augurs well for the country's prospects in the Afro-Asian championship at Hyderabad next month.

Karnataka overall supremacy with 17 golds, 15 silvers and 6 bronzes, to a large extend, was made feasible by its formidable women's team, which accounted for 217 points. Police, which finished as runner-up in the women's section with 117 points, emerged as the men's team champion with 135 points and was placed overall No. 2 with 252 points.

For Shikha, who trains under Nihar Ameen at K.C.Reddy Swim Centre in Bangalore, the last outing in the meet was the 100m freestyle and she had to be content with a 58.91 seconds, a shade below her National best of 58.32 seconds clocked at World championship at Barcelona in July. Nevertheless, it sunk the meet mark of Nisha Millet (1:00.45) set in 1997.

Another record maker in the women's section was Richa Misra, who with her fourth gold broke the meet mark of Meghana Narayan of Karnataka (2:24.24) set in 1997 by clocking 2:19.63 in the 200m butterfly. It was, however, under Richa's National best of 2:19.58 clocked at Barcelona.

In the men's section, T.A. Sujith, gunning for his fourth gold, made no mistake as he shattered an eight year old 100m freestyle mark of Sebastian Xavier (53.65 seconds) by clocking 53.15 for a new National and meet recorda. But Akbar Ali Mir stole a march on him in race for the individual honours, when he won the 200m butterfly in 2:08.17, which erased the meet mark of 2:08.38 set by K. Suresh Kumar in 1995. It was Akbar's second meet mark and third gold in the meet.

For the host, Bengal, the meet ended on a pleasant note as Gairik Bardhan, its best swimmer, claimed the gold in the 200m breaststroke, clocking 2:30.20.The National record holder and the favourite, Deepak Kumar Singh of Police opted out of the race.

G.B. Sharath of Karnataka and Mamoni Mondal of Railways, were adjudged as the best divers in the men's and women's sections respectively. Railways, which won the men's team title with31 points and women's title with 36 points, also topped as overall champion.

Mr. Hashim Abdul Halim, Speaker of Bengal Legislative Assembly gave away the prizes, while the Sports Minister, Subhas Chakraborty, the Sports Minister of Bengal presided.

The results:

Swimming:

Men: 100m freestyle: 1. T.A. Sujith (SSCB, 53.15. NR and NMR. Old: 53.65) l, 2. Rahul Batra (Kar, 54.36), 3. Benoy Sebastian (SSCB, 55.58). 200m butterfly: 1. Akbar Ali Mir (RSPB, 2:08.17. NMR. Old: 2:08.38), 2. Amar Muralidharan (Pol, 2:09.67), 3. Arjun Muralidharan (Pol, 2:10.26). 200m breaststroke: 1. Gairik Bardhan (Ben, 2:30.20), 2. P. Aji (SSCB, 2:31.71), 3. Anil Khatri (Har, 2:37.96). Team: Champion: Police (135 pts), Runner-up: Services (131 pts).

Women: 100m butterfly: 1. Shikha Tandon (Kar, 58.91. NMR. Old: 1:00.45), 2. Reshma Millet (Kar, 1:00.48), 3. Lisa Mahanata (Pol, 1:03.85). 200m butterfly: 1. Richa Misra (Pol, 2:19.63. NMR. Old: 2:24.24), 2. V. Sivaranjani (Kar, 2:31.18), 3. Archana Bhushan (Kar, 2:34.88). 4 x100m medley relay: 1. Karnataka (4:48.51), 2. Police (4:56.04), 3. Kerala (4:58.19). Team: Champion: Karnataka (217), Runner-up: Police (117).

Overall champion: Karnataka (287) and runner-up: Police (252). Best swimmer: Men: Akbar Ali Mir (RSPB). Women: Shikha Tandon (Karnataka).

Diving: Men's team champion: Railways Sports Promotion Board (31 points). Women: RSPB (36). Overall champion: RSPB.

Waterpolo (finals): Men: Services 8 (Sreekumar 3 , Bijendra Rai 2, S. Samanta, K. Anilkumar and Martin Joseph) bt Railways 6 (Robin Boldey 2, Sandip Dutta 2, Debasish Prasad and Dibyendu Das ). Women: Kerala 5 (Biji Verghese 2, B. Praveena, T.K. Prajitha and A.S. Liji) b Police 4 (Purnima Pai 3, Smita Gawhane).

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