Surat swimmer Anshul kothari gets yellow metal for the state after gap of 20 years at the nationals.
Gujarat ended its two decades of gold drought when Anshul Kothari finished at the top of the podium in the 50m freestyle event at the 65th Senior National Swimming championship in Ranchi on Saturday. This was the second medal for the Surat-based lad in the competition. It is to be recalled that earlier this year at the same venue, during the 34th National Games, Anshul had bagged the bronze in the 50m freestyle.
On Saturday, Anshul clocked 24.08 seconds to win the 50m freestyle final ahead of Arjun and Sarma SP Nair, both from Railways. "Having put in much hard work, I was expecting a medal. I missed out on the 50m butterfly. But I am very happy and satisfied today," said Anshul, who bagged a bronze in that event.
According to his coach Kamlesh Nanavati, this is the first gold in 20 years for Gujarat. "Babu Rana from Baroda was the last to win gold in the senior event. I don't remember the year but it was more than two decades back. This is a big achievement, because Gujarat was doing well in juniors but now we are winning medals in senior competitions also," said an elated Nanavati.
With the gold, Anshul also tasted sweet revenge. The Gujarat swimmer was desperate for the yellow medal after missing out in the 50m butterfly event on Thursday.
In that final, it was Sarma SP Nair who walked away with the gold. “There were a few flaws, like lack of strength and timings. In the past year or so I worked on those shortcomings, though I’m still trying to improve my timings,” said Anshul, who has been training under the eagle eyes of Nihar Ameen in Bangalore. He has now set his sights on the 100m freestyle final, schedule for Sunday. He is expecting a good fight from Aaron D’Souza of Karnataka, who has been on a roll. Along with Anshul, Sujay Shah will be also in action on the last day of the competition. He will be eyeing a medal in the 1500m event.
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