The Hindu : Sport : Arjun sets 100m backstroke record

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Friday, Sep 22, 2006
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Arjun sets 100m backstroke record

Kalyan Ashok

BANGALORE: Arjun Muralidharan, the stocky 19-year-old swimmer from Police, followed up his good show at the SAF Games by smashing the 100m backstroke meet mark with a time of 1:00.73s in the LIC 60th senior National aquatics championship which began at the BAC pool here on Thursday. The previous mark of 1:01.14s was set by Senthil Kumar of Police in 2004.

Arjun looked set for a meet record from the start as he warded off the spirited challenge from Karnataka's N.A. Sandeep. Sandeep clocked 1:00.88s for the silver.

"I am looking beyond this race as I aim to sweep the gold in all the five races — 50 and 200 back, 100 and 200 butterfly," said Arjun.

Apart from his record the other winners in the men's section fell short of the meet marks. Sandeep Sejwal of Delhi, as expected, won the 100m breaststroke in 1:07.82s while Veerdhaal Khade of Maharashtra pipped Aniketh D'Souza of Karnataka in the 50m freestyle in 24.12s.

Earlier, Mandar Divase of Police topped the 800m freestyle, which was a time-trial event in 8:39.33s, just short of his National meet mark of 8:36.69s.

Karnataka's V. Tejeswini got the first gold for her State when she tied the 100m breaststroke meet mark of 1:88.66s set by Zeba Wadia of Maharashtra seven years ago. "I am happy to win the 100. I hope to do well in the rest of the events," said an elated Tejeswini.

The women's 50m freestyle sprint saw a close finish with Arpana Magdum finishing just ahead of her Maharashtra teammate Lekha Kamath in 27.75s while Fariha Zaman of Assam topped in the 100m backstroke with 1:09.87s.

At the end of the first day, Police led the table with three gold, one silver and one bronze medal, followed by Maharashtra (2-1-0) and Karnataka (1-4-4). A.K. Dasgupta, Executive Director, LIC, inaugurated the championship.

The results: Swimming: Men: 800m freestyle: 1. Mandar A. Divase (Pol) 08:39.33, 2. Rohith R. Havaldar (Kar) 08:42.78, 3. Aaron D'Souza (Kar) 08:47.79. 100m breaststroke: 1. Sandeep Sejwal (Del) 1:07.82, 2. Rohit Kumar (Pol) 1:08.62, 3. Deepak Kumar Singh (Pol) 1:08.94. 100m backstroke: 1. Arjun Muralidharan (Pol) 1:00.73s (NMR) (OR: 1:01.14s, Senthil Kumar (Police) 2004), 2. N.A. Sandeep (Kar) 1:00.88 (BMR), 3. Praveen Tokas (Del) 1:02.01. 50m freestyle: 1. Veerdhaval Khade (Mah) 24.12, 2. Aniketh D'Souza (Kar) 24.67, 3. Athul Krishna Raj (Rly) 25.22.

Women: 800m freestyle: 1. Charu Mishra (Pol) 09:46.89, 2. Pooja R. Alva (Kar) 09:47.00, 3. Kshipra (Kar) 09:57.36. 100m breaststroke: 1. Tejeswini (Kar) 1:18.66 (Equalled Meet Record of Zeba Wadia, 1999), 2. M.S. Divya (AP) 1:21.58, 3. Jessica Bole (Kar) 1:22.43. 100m backstroke: 1. Fariha Zaman (Asm) 1:09.87, 2. Sumi Cyriac (Rlys) 1:11.59, 3. Meghana Gupta (Kar) 1:12.63. 50m freestyle: 1. Arpana Magdum (Mah) 27.75, 2. Lekha Kamat (Mah) 27.81, 3. C. Shubha (MP) 28.14.

Diving: Women: Highboard: 1. Hrutika Shriram (Rlys) 236.80 pts, 2. Rashmi Das (Pol) 216.75, 3. Mamoni Mondal (Rlys) 214.70.

Waterpolo: Men: Maharashtra 12 (Devendra Joshi 5, Amit Gore 3, Rohit Barve 2) bt Manipur 2.

Karnataka 8 (K.V. Nagaraj 3, K.U. Aneesh 3) bt Delhi 6 (P. Naik 2). Kerala 9 (V. Sreevisakh 3, S. Parasu Babu 2, V. Nandu 2) bt Punjab 2.

Women: Maharashtra 16 (Dipti Motghare 5, Sai Shettye 4, Gayatri Patkar 2, Shraddha Belore 2, Payal Ajmire 2) bt Manipur 2. Bengal 7 (Sadhna Sardar 4) bt Delhi 0. Police 8 (Rujuta Deshpande 3) bt Karnataka 4 (Malavika Gubbi 3).

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