The Hindu : Sport : Karnataka all set to dominate

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Wednesday, Nov 05, 2008
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Karnataka all set to dominate

Principal Correspondent

HYDERABAD: The absence of Olympian Virdhawal Khade, triple gold medallist in the recent Commonwealth Youth Games (Pune), might well take the sheen off the LIC senior National aquatic championship for men and women, commencing at Gachibowli Swimming Pool here from Wednesday.

Khade’s presence could have added excitement as the likes of Rehan Poncha, who won four gold at Panjim, and Sandeep Sejwal who claimed three gold (All with National records) in 2007, have already confirmed their participation.

Khade’s coach Nihar Ameen said his ward needed a break.

Karnataka swimmers are expected to dominate having won the overall championship last time with a whopping 26 gold, 22 silver and 13 bronze.

The presence of the likes of Olympians Rehan Poncha, Shikha Tandon (50 m butterfly), V. Tejaswini (100 m breaststroke) and Aaron d’Souza (200 m freestyle) will once again make them favourites.

Richa Mishra of Police, who during the last edition won five gold, should be keen to re-assert her supremacy in the 200m individual medley, 800m, 1500m, 400m individual medley and 200m butterfly.

In the men’s section, Balakrishnan, who came up with a splendid gold-medal performance in the 100m backstroke at Panjim (1:00.62s), has the potential to cause a flutter in the pool.

The Institution teams are expected to dominate water polo with Railways men and Police women being the defending champions.

No high expectations

From the host’s point of view, the expectations are not high.

State coach G. Umesh feels that Amreen Mallik (breaststroke - 50m and 100m) and Shilpa Naidu (1500m, 800m and 400m), should be the best medal hopes given the fact they picked bronze in the last Nationals.

The championship will be inaugurated by Chief Minister Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.

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