National aquatics | Rujula and Bhavya break meet records

Rujula S. and Bhavya Sachdeva swam confidently to break women’s 50m and 1500m freestyle meet records respectively and clinch gold medals in the National aquatics championships at the Kalinga Stadium Aquatic Centre here on Tuesday.

The 16-year-old Rujula benefited from her strong mindset and good preparation to improve upon her previous personal best of 26.91 and secured her maiden gold. “The distance was short, so I went all out,” said Rujula.

Bhavya swam tactically and increased the gap with others after the halfway stage as she shattered Malavika’s 10-year-old record with a time of 17:35.07 and bagged her second gold.

“It was slower than I thought. After missing the mark in 2023, it feels good to achieve it,” said Bhavya, who relocated from Australia to Bangkok to avoid racism and resume her training last year.

Competing in the lone 50m backstroke event, Olympian Srihari Nataraj, without a shave and clearly in training mode for the upcoming World University Games, clocked 25.86 in the heats and 25.70 in the final to claim the top honour. He narrowly missed his 2019 National record of 25.58.

Aryan Nehra, who set the National mark of 3:52.55 in 2023, fought back in the final 100m to regain the 400m freestyle crown (3:55.96).

Tamil Nadu (Nithik Nathella, Danush Suresh, B. Benedicton Rohit, Adhithya Dinesh) took the men’s 4x100m medley relay gold with a record.

The results (winners only): Men: 400m freestyle: Aryan Nehra (Guj) 3:55.96; 50m backstroke: Srihari Nataraj (Kar) 25.70; 200m butterfly: Sajan Prakash (AIP) 1:58.98; 4x100m medley relay: Tamil Nadu 3:45.09 (NMR, Old 3:45.66, 2024).

Women: 50m freestyle: Rujula S. (Kar) 26.36 (NMR, Old 26.47, Rujuta Khade, 2023); 1500m freestyle: Bhavya Sachdeva (Del) 17:35.07 (NMR, Old 17:39. 16, Malavika V., 2015); 50m backstroke: Vihitha Nayana Loganathan (Kar) 29.99; 200m butterfly: Astha Choudhury (RSPB) 2:20.63; 4x100m medley relay: Karnataka 4:25.92.