Local aquanauts break records

Medals rained in numbers for Mumbai’s swimmers at the 34th Sub-Junior National Aquatic Championship, held in Pune. The event has seen over 1,400 participants from all over the country from age group of 9-12 years taking place from June 28 to 30.

The old rivalry of two champions of Mumbai swimming, Sanjiti Saha, who trains at Khar Gymkhana, and Palak Dhami, who trains at the Glenmark Aquatic Foundation, reached its pinnacle in 100 m Butterfly for Girls Group III. Both the girls smashed the National record with Sanjiti winning gold with a new Gold meet record of 01 min. 07.77 sec and Palak claiming the silver with a better meet record of 1 min 08.82 sec.

“I think an enormous credit goes to my coach Dev Dutt Sir, who has spent a considerable amount of time in training me. It is always a spirited fight between Palak and me, and I am glad I have come out as the winner, though by a thin margin this time,” said Sanjiti.

Twelve year old Palak who studies in Don Bosco International School, Matunga said, “It is always a tough competition with Sanjiti. Only one of us bags gold, and it was her this time.”

 Vedika Amin with her medal

“I started swimming at the age of 3, and this is my third consecutive national competition. I have won golds in different categories, but it is different while competing with Sanjiti, it is a healthy rivalry though,” she adds.

Another record breaker from Mumbai was Vedika Amin, who hails from Lokhandwala. She continued her phenomenal performance, breaking the 100 m Breaststroke record twice in the day. She clocked 1:20.85 in the heats and came back in the evening to smash her record by clocking 1:18.63 to secure the gold.

“All the hard work has finally paid off, and I am thrilled that I broke the same record twice in a day. The entire year, I had been practising for this championship, and I am happy that I seized the gold medals,” said the chirpy 11-year old.

Maharashtra’s Utkarsh Ghor had the rare distinction of breaking two records on the same day when he swam to beat his record of 34.88 Secs set in the morning (heat for the final event) by clocking in 34.30 Secs. Utkarsh currently lives in Dubai, but he has an Indian passport. He clinched the title of the fastest swimmer in the Boys Group 4 category by winning gold in the 50m freestyle and recorded a time of 30.55 seconds in the 50m backstroke setting another national record.

“When I started swimming, and I competed for the first time, I came last in all events, but since then I have worked hard, and the gold medals keep coming. I am preparing for the Asian Games currently with my dream being winning Gold for India at the Olympics,” said the naïve 10-year old swimmer.

The divers teamed up to add another Gold to Maharashtra’s tally. The Champion swimmers from Mumbai Palak Dhami, Sanjiti Saha, Vedika Amin and Apeksha Fernandes added the 4*50 medley relay gold to Maharashtra’s kitty establishing a new national record of 2:11.24 in the process.

On Friday, Utkarsh won  fifth Gold by creating New National Record in 200 m Individual medley Boys Category IV.