Date:24/09/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/09/24/stories/2007092461212000.htm

Sport

Rehan, Richa hog the limelight

Kalyan Ashok

Karnataka retains overall title with 411 points

— Photo: K. Murali Kumar.

CLASS APART: Rehan Poncha and Richa Mishra swept aside the competition with a bagful of medals .

Panaji: Rehan Poncha was adjudged ‘the best swimmer of the meet’ in the men’s section of the LIC 61st senior National aquatics championship which concluded at the Campal Pool complex here on Sunday. Rehan began and ended his campaign with records in the championship as he powered his way to a National record of 2:08.80s in the 200m individual medley, his final event. The previous national best (2:09.40s) was also set by Rehan in the Asian Age Group Championship in August.

In all, Rehan took four golds, each of them with National records (200m backstroke, 200m and 400m individual medley, 400m freestyle) and a silver in the 200m butterfly and topped the men’s section with 33 points.

“Though I have won the National Games best athlete awards back to back, this is something special to me and I have been dreaming of it since 1999, when I first competed in the senior Nationals. I have done far more than I expected and to finish with four National records makes it all the more memorable,” said the champion from Bangalore.

Sharing the podium with Rehan was Richa Mishra who retained the ‘best woman swimmer title’ that she won at Bangalore in 2006.

Richa also won the 200m individual medley, but under her own meet best of 2:25.17s, clocking 2:26.38s. Richa topped the heap with 35 points, with five golds in 800m (with meet mark) and 1500m freestyle (National record), 400m individual medley (National record) and 200m butterfly.

Overall title

Karnataka swimmers retained the overall title with a massive 411 points, winning both the men’s and women’s team titles with 186 and 225 points respectively. Karnataka’s haul included 24 golds, 22 silvers and 13 bronzes.

The final day’s action saw Rehan doing a well paced race to take the 200 IM field apart. He did the 50m fly in 27.8 seconds and made the backstroke in 1:00.61s and the 50m breast stroke came in 1:38.01s, before closing on the kill in the freestyle 50m segment. Aditya Sangavekar and Akbar Ali Mir, both of Railways finished a distant second and third respectively.

The other big race of the men’s section was 100m back stroke, where M.B. Balakrishnan, a student of the Guindy Engineering College from Chennai, sprung a big surprise as he won in a tight finish setting a meet mark of 1:00.62s, erasing the previous best 1:00.73s by Arjun Muralidharan. Praveen Tokas breathed down on Balakrishnan’s neck at 1:0078s and N.A. Sandeep of Karnataka finished third.

“I am thrilled with my first gold in the championship and with Arjun on my next lane, I was determined to prove a thing or two and I am happy that I did it,” said Balakrishnan. T.A. Sujith took the 50m freestyle gold while in the women’s 50m freestyle, Shikha Tandon struck with ease at 26.92s for her fourth gold. Fariha Zaman of Assam (100m back stroke) was the other winner in the women’s section.

The results: Men: 50m freestyle: 1. T.A. Sujith (SSCB, 23.95s); 2. N.A. Sandeep (Kar, 24.98); 3. Saju Joseph (SSCB, 25.24). 100m back stroke: M.B. Balakrishnan (TN, 1:00.62 NMR, old: 1:00.73 Arjun Muralidharan of Police, 2006); 2. Praveen Tokas (Rlys, 1:00.78); 3. N.A. Sandeep (Kar, 1:01.04). 200m individual medley: 1. Rehan Poncha (Kar, 2:08.80 NR, old: 2:09.40 Rehan Poncha, 2007); 2. Aditya Sangavekar (Rlys, 2:14.76); 3. Akbar Ali Mir (Rlys, 2:16.73). 4x100m medley relay: 1. SSCB (4:04.85, NMR, old: 4:06.46 by Police, 2004); 2. Karnataka (4: 05.96, BMR); 3. Railways (4:08. 06).

Women: 50m freestyle: 1. Shikha Tandon (Kar, 26.92); 2. Lekha Kamath (Mah, 28.01); 3. Kshipra Mahajan (Kar, 28.58). 100m back stroke: Fariha Zaman (Asm, 1:10.67); 2. Kshipra Mahajan (1:13.07); 3. Jyotsna Pansare (Mah, 1:14.12). 200m individual medley: 1. Richa Misra (Pol, 2:26.38); 2. Pooja R. Alva (Kar, 2:30.76); 3. V. Tejaswini (Kar, 2:34.54). 4 x 100m medley relay: 1. Karnataka (4:45. 99); 2. Maharashtra (4:55.74); 3. Bengal (5:04.12).

Water-polo: Finals: Men: Railways bt SSCB 12-11. For third place: Kerala bt Bengal 7-6. Women: Police bt Maharashtra 7-4. Third place: Kerala bt Karnataka 2-0.