Divase, Shubha steal the show

As the penultimate day of the 63rd Senior National Aquatic Championships unfolded, top swimmers in the country dished out record-breaking performances at the LNCPE swimming pool here. Four national records were rewritten in five events held on Friday.

In the first race, Mandar Divase of Indian Police won men’s 400m freestyle event surviving a strong challenge from 17-year-old Aaron D’Souza. Meanwhile, Poncha continued his gold haul by winning his fourth medal with yet another meet record in 200m backstroke.

He eclipsed his own mark of 02:08:15 created in 2007.  The 23-year-old Bangalore lad stopped the clock at 2:07:52 seconds to beat teammate Rohit Hawaldar who was leading by a body length up till the last 50m of the event.

In women’s 50m butterfly, Karnataka’s Shubha C won a thrilling race just 00:00:01 seconds ahead of compatriot Arhata Magavi. The 20-year-old bettered the national record created by Shikha Tandon (0:29:33) with a timing of 0:29.01 while Magavi finished at 0:29:02.

The fastest swimmer in the championship, Virdhawal Khade of Maharashtra swam yet another comprehensive race winning the 50m butterfly. He sliced Arjun Muralidharan’s two-year-old record of 0:25.76 secs by clocking 0:24.36 in the final.