Swimming: Srihari, Kushagra, Chahat break national records at Senior National Aquatic Championship 

Three swimming records were broken on the second day of the 74th Senior National Aquatic Championships in Bengaluru on Tuesday. Indian swimmers Srihari Nataraj, Kushagra Rawat and Chahat Arora were the cynosure of all eyes, rewriting record books in their respective events.

In the 100m freestyle swimming event Srihari Nataraj clocked 49.94s in the final to better his own mark of 50.17s that he clocked in the heats earlier on Tuesday. In the process, Srihari Nataraj broke Virdhawal Khade’s record of 50.53s set in 2012, in Pune.

Read: Swimming: Record-breaking day at the 74th Senior National Aquatic Championships

Speaking on the national record, Srihari Nataraj said he was elated to have broken the national record. He said:

“I wanted to start well and do a quick 25m, I clocked 23 seconds in the first 50m and timed 26 seconds in the second 50m. I think I could go much faster than 49.94s, but, it feels good to have gotten the record."

Anand of SSCB (51.68s) and Karnataka’s Tanish George Mathew (51.85s) completed the podium in the 100m freestyle swimming event.

800m and 50m swimming records broken

Kushagra Rawat of Delhi, on the other hand, was at his best as he bettered his own mark of 8:09.47s in the 800m freestyle swimming event. He clocked 8:08.32s to smash the national record set in 2019.

Aneesh S Gowda of Karnataka (8:23.89s) and Vedaant Madhavan of Maharashtra (8:28.68s) won silver and bronze medals respectively in the 800m freestyle swimming event.

Punjab’s Chahat Arora then stole the limelight in the women’s category in a 50m breast stroke swimming dash. She clocked 33.62s in the heats to break Tamil Nadu’s AV Jayaveena’s national swimming record of 33.81s created in 2018.

Though Chahat Arora couldn’t clock a faster time in the final, her effort of 33.86s was enough for her to win the gold medal. She finished ahead of Apeksha Fernandes of Maharashtra, who clocked 34.07s. Manavi Varma of Karnataka won bronze with a time of 36.31s.