BANGALORE: Debutant Madhavi Giri, the sprightly 14-year-old lass from Karnataka, posted a remarkable triumph in the 200m backstroke event on the third day of the LIC 60th senior National aquatics championship at the BAC pool here on Saturday. Madhavi's triumph was a perfect finale for an eventful day which saw five meet records being toss out — four in swimming and one in diving.

Madhavi was trailing archrival Fariha Zaman of Assam, who led from the front on lane four and seemed right on course clocking 1:12.95s in the first 100. But after the turn, Madhavi launched a gallant assault and churned up a blistering pace to hit the pad ahead at 2:31.98. Fariha settled for silver at 2:33.52. Rehan Poncha and Arjun Muralidharan raced to their second individual golds, which was topped with new meet marks. Rehan, after trailing team-mate Rohit Hawaldar in the first 100, hit the front and stayed right there as he bettered his own 400m freestyle meet mark of 4:09.18s with a time of 4:08.71. Rohit and Amar Muralidharan (Police) took silver and bronze respectively.

The men's 200m backstroke meet mark of 2:11.97s took a beating with all three toppers smashing the meet marks. Arjun Muralidharan took gold at 2:10.65s, warding off a spirited chase from Rehan (2:11.03s) and Praveen Tokas (2:11.73).

Hurthika Shriram of Railways, the 16-year old from Solapur, ended her campaign in diving on a high note, winning her third straight gold, topping the one metre spring board with 189.55 points thus erasing Mamoni Mondal's 2002 mark of 186.10. Hosts Karnataka led the medals tally with 11 golds, 12 silvers and seven bronze medals while Police (5-4-5), Maharashtra (5-2-2) and Delhi (2-0-2) trailed behind.

The results: Swimming: Men: 400m freestyle: 1. Rehan Poncha (Kar, 04:08.71s. NMR, Old: 04:09.18, Rehan, 2005), 2. Rohit R. Hawaldar (Kar, 04:09.91), 3. Amar Muralidharan (Police, 04:16.24). 200m breaststroke: 1. Sandeep Sejwal (Del, 02:27.10), 2. J.P. Arjun (Kar, 02:31.99), 3. Rohit Kumar (Police, 02:32.15). 200m backstroke: 1. Arjun Muralidharan (Police, 02:10.65, NMR, Old: 02:11.97, Senthil Kumar (Police), 2004), 2. Rehan Poncha (Kar, 02:11.03, BMR), 3. Praveen Tokas (Del, 02:11.73, BMR). 4x100m medley relay: 1. Karnataka (N.A. Sandeep, J.P. Arjun, Srinand Srinivas and Aniketh D'Souza, 04:06.60), 2. SSCB, 04.10.63, 3. Railways, 04:12.57.

Women: 400m freestyle: 1. Pooja R. Alva (Kar, 04:41.50), 2. M. Kshipra (Kar, 04:43.17), 3. Charu Mishra (Police, 04:45.37). 200m breaststroke: 1. V. Tejasvini (Kar, 02:46.49, NMR, Old: 02:48.82, Tejasvini, 2005), 2. M.S. Divya (AP, 02:55.38), 3. S. Prerna Jain (Kar, 02:59.96). 200m backstroke: 1. Madhavi Giri (Kar, 02:31.98), 2. Fariha Zaman (Asm, 02;33.52), 3. Sumi Cyriac (Rly, 02:33.85). 4x100m medley relay: 1. Karnataka (Kshipra Mahajan, V. Tejasvini, R. Pooja Alva, B. Neeraja, 04:44.22), 2. Maharashtra, 04:53.94, 3. Police, 05:01.11.

Diving: Men: 3m springboard: 1. Viraj Patil (RSPB, 354.75 pts), 2. M. Manesh Kumar (SSCB, 323.70), 3. G.B. Sharath (SSCB, 303.70).

Women: 1m springboard: 1. Hrutika Shriram (RSPB, 189.55, NMR, Old: 186.10, Mamoni Mondal (RSPB) 2002, 2. Karishma Mohite (Kar, 187.55, BMR), 3. Taniya Ganguli (RSPB, 175.30).

Waterpolo: Men: Railways 13 (S. Dutta 3, S. Goswani 2, S. Naskar 2) bt Manipur 2; Bengal 12 (S. Yadav 3, K. Nag 2, R. Roy 2, R. Baidya 2) bt Karnataka 6 (Nagaraj 3, Vipin 2); Police 11 (S. Gopakumar 4, N. Gopakumar 2, Jeetmohan 2) bt Punjab 2.

Women: Maharashtra 7 (Deepti 4) bt Kerala 5 (B. Praveena 3); Police 9 (Rujuta 3, Biji Devi 3) bt Bengal 2; Karnataka (Malavika 7) bt Delhi 1.

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