Bhubaneswar: Karnataka women swimmers set the tune on the opening day by rewriting a New Meet Record (NMR) in the women’s 4X200 freestyle relay event of the 78th National Senior Aquatic Championship, inaugurated at the Indoor Aquatic Centre, Kalinga Stadium here on Sunday.
The Karnatak team composed of Vihitha Narayan Loganathan, Meenakshi Menon, Trisha Sindhu S and Dhinidhi Desinghu clocked 8:52.33 and bagged the gold medal in the Women’s 4×200m Freestyle relay with NMR. In the process they shattered the 13-years old record with 8:53.83 at Pune in 2012.
The silver and bronze won by Maharashtra and Railway Sports Promotion Board (RSPB) clocking 8:57.68 and 8:58.45 respectively.
15-year-old Dhinidhi Desinghu, who was the part of NMR creating Karnataka team expressed “our team put in a brilliant effort to win the gold medal. I was in the fourth leg was more relaxed as Vihitha and Meenakshi swim in the first and second legs respectively set a better platform for the team”
Dhinidhi was India's youngest athlete at the Paris Olympics Games and also at the 2022 Asian Games added that “I was taking part in the National Senior Aquatic Championship when I was 12-years old, so I am used to such conditions. My experience of the Olympics Games and Asian Games helped me to better my timings. Ahead of forthcoming international events, in this championship I am looking forward to my 200m freestyle event timing”.
Tamil Nadu’s Benedicton Rohit set a new national record on the opening day of the 78th Senior National Aquatic Championship in Bhubaneswar on Sunday. He clocked an impressive 52.57s in the men’s 100m butterfly finals to eclipse the previous record of 52.77s set by Asian Games medalist Virdhawal Khade in 2009.
At the end of the first day’s action, Karnataka is leading with 7 medals - 3 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze followed by RSPB (4 medals) and Tamil Nadu (2 gold).
