Hyderabad, Jul 2 (PTI) Four national records were rewritten, including one by Olympian Maana Patel, who bettered her own mark, on the opening day of the 76th Senior National Aquatic Championships on Sunday.

Maana, the only woman swimmer to represent India at the Tokyo Olympics, improved her own national record of 1:04.33 in the women’s 100m backstroke events by clocking 1:03.48.

Maharashtra’s Palak Joshi (1:04.32) and Karnataka’s Suvana Baskar (1:05.00) finished second and third respectively.

Among others who created new national marks were Gujarat’s Aryan Nehra and Karnataka swimmers Nina Venkatesh and Lineysha A K.

Aryan, who has already sealed a berth for the Asian Games and World Championships in the men’s 800m and 1500m freestyle, clinched the gold medal in the men’s 400m freestyle event, setting a new national record with a timing of 3:52.55.

The earlier record was held by Delhi’s Kushagra Rawat who came in second, clocking 3:55.45s.

The two swimmers were neck and neck for the most part of the race but Aryan did well to accelerate, moving ahead in the final 100m. Karnataka’s Aneesh S Gowda came in third with a timing of 3:57.86.

Nina had a splendid day in the pool. The Karnataka swimmer broke the national record twice in the women’s 50m butterfly. First, she clocked 28.01s in the heats to erase Divya Satija’s record 28.33 set in 2019. She then bettered that mark by clocking 27.74s in the final.

Nina’s statemate Lineysha clocked 2:37.35 which was over 2 seconds faster than her earlier national record of 2:39.38 in the women’s 200m breaststroke.

Such was Lineysha’s dominance that her statemate — S Lakshya, who came in second was close to two seconds behind her with a timing of 2:41.13.

Gujarat’s Venika Parikh, who clocked 2:43.41s was the third swimmer on the podium.

Guangzhou Asian Games bronze medallist Virdhawal Khade also stood on the podium on the opening day.

The 31-year-old seasoned swimmer clinched the gold in the men’s 50m butterfly. He clocked 24.33s, edging out Tamil Nadu’s Benedicton Rohit B (24.62) and Maharashtra’s Mihir Ambre (24.78).

Source: PTI News