Bhubaneswar, June 25 (IANS) Rujula S. of Karnataka clocked 26.36 sec in the 50m Women Freestyle, improving the national meet record as well as Best Indian Performance, by breaking the long-standing record of Shikha Tandon in the 78th National Aquatics Championships at the Aquatic Centre, Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar, on Tuesday.

While Rujula surged to break the long-standing mark by clocking 26.36, Avantika Sudhir Chavan of the Railways Sports Promotion Board finished second in 26.58, while Karnataka’s upcoming swimmer Dhinidhi Desinghu finished third in 26.69 seconds.

Among other noteworthy performances on the day, Olympian Aryan Nehra, Kushagra Rawat, and Aneesh Gowda set the pool on fire with their last 50m in the 400m Men Freestyle. Aryan Nehra won the gold with Kushagra coming in close behind him, while Aneesh Gowda settled for the bronze.

Bhavya Sachdeva of Delhi clocked 17.35.07 in the Women’s 1500m Freestyle, claiming a gold and the National Meet record, while Shristi Upadhyaya won her second individual medal, a bronze, for hosts Odisha.

Olympians Srihari Nataraj and Sajan Prakash also won their respective events with ease, while Tamil Nadu set a new meet record in men’s 4 x 100 medley relay.

Key results:

Women’s 1500m Freestyle: Bhavya Sachdeva DELHI 17:35.07 NMR; Vritti Agarwal TELANGANA 17:41.36; Thanya Shadakshari KARNATAKA 17:41.4.

Men’s 400m Freestyle: Aryan Nehra GUJARAT 3:55.96; Kushagra Rawat DELHI 3:56.84; Aneesh S Gowda KARNATAKA 3:57.17

Women’s 200m Butterfly: Astha Choudhury RSPB 2:20.63; Roshini Balasubramanian TAMILNADU 2:20.77; Shristi Upadhaya 02 ODISHA 2:23.11

Men’s 200m Butterfly: Sajan Prakash POLICE 1:58.98; Bikram Changmai RSPB 2:02.13; Dharshan.S KARNATAKA 2:03.11

Women’s 50m Backstroke: Vihitha Nayana Loganathan KARNATAKA 29.99; Sanjana Manguesh Prabhugaonker GOA 30.68; Soubrity Mondal BENGAL 30.70

Men’s 50m Backstroke: Srihari Nataraj KARNATAKA 25.70; Rishabh Anupam Das MAHARASHTRA 26.02; Akash Mani KARNATAKA 26.12

Women’s 50m Freestyle: Rujula S KARNATAKA 26.36 NMR; Avantika Sudhir Chavan RSPB 26.58; Dhinidhi Desinghu KARNATAKA 26.69.

Men’s 4 x 100m Medley: Tamil Nadu (Nithik Nathella, Danush Suresh, B.Benedicton Rohit, Adhithya Dinesh) 3:45.09 NMR; Karnataka (Utkarsh Santosh Patil, Manikanta L, Chinthan S Shetty, Tanish George Mathew) 3:48.16; Railways Sports Promotion Board (Devansh Maheshkumar Parmar, Anoop Augustine, Bikram Changmai, Sathya Sai Krishnan M) 3:49.60

–IANS

bsk/