Advait Page, Bhavya Sachdeva hog limelight in National Games swimming

Advait Page swam well within himself yet he dominated the men’s 1500m freestyle to set a new Games record on the second day of the swimming events of the 36th National Games at the Sardar Patel Aquatic complex here on Monday.

Delhi’s Bhavya Sachdeva underlined her growing stature by setting a new mark in the women’s 800m while S. Lakshya broke the record twice in the 200m breaststroke. Karnataka’s women set a new mark in the 4x100m medley relay.

Advait’s main rival Sajan Prakash pulled out of the final due to a niggle and the Madhya Pradesh lad preserved his energy in the first half of the race where Gujarat’s Aryan Nehra and Karnataka’s Aneesh Gowda kept pace with the favourite.

However, Advait pulled ahead after the 800m mark and took a sufficient lead as the others faded away. Advait clocked a slow 15:54.79s to break Sajan Prakash’s old mark (15:55.78) set in 2015. Aryan took the silver, while Aneesh finished with the bronze.

Bhavya Sachdeva of Delhi won gold in the 800m freestyle at the 36th National Games in Rajkot on Monday, 03 October 2022. (Source: RITU RAJ KONWAR)

In the women’s 800m freestyle, Vritti Agarwal and Ashmita Chandra stalked Bhavya for the first 200 metres. However, the Delhi girl went into a clear lead after 300m and set the pace alone to break the record in 9:15.24.

In one of the better contested finals, Karnataka’s Lakshya beat back a late challenge from Chahat Arora to win the women’s 200m breaststroke. Lakshya, who broke the existing record in the heats in the morning, was off to a fine start and took an early lead.

Lakshya S of Karnataka wins gold in 200m breaststroke at the 36th National Games in Rajkot on Monday, 03 October 2022. (Source: RITU RAJ KONWAR)

However, Chahat in fourth position at the home stretch overtook Harshitha and Kalayani and pushed Lakshya, who managed to cling on to her lead to set a new record (2:42.63).

The Karnataka 4x100m relay squad of Ridhima, Manavi, Tanishi and Nina set a new record by clocking 4:27.78s.

The results: Men: 1500m freestyle: 1. Advait Page (MP) (15:54.79s- NGR; OR – 15:55.78, Sajan Prakash, Kerala, 2015), 2. Aryan Nehra (Guj), 3. Aneesh S. Gowda (Kar); 200m breaststroke: 1. S.P. Likith (SSCB) (2:16.40), 2. S. Danush (TN), 3. Swadesh Mondal (SSCB); 4X100m medley relay: 1. SSCB (3:49.67), 2. Karnataka, 3. Delhi.

Women: 800m freestyle: 1. Bhavya Sachdeva (Del) (9:15.24 – NGR; OR – 9:15.30, Aakansha Vora, Maharashtra, 2015), 2. Vritti Agarwal (Tel), 3. Ashmitha Chandra (Kar); 200m breaststroke: S. Lakshya (Kar) (2:42.63 – NGR; OR – 2:45.96, Lakshya, 2022), 2. Chahat Arora (Pun), 3. Harshitha Jayaram (Kar); 4x100m medley: 1. Karnataka (4:27.78 – NGR; OR – 4:32.38, Maharashtra, 2015), 2. Maharashtra, 3. Bengal.