Wins four golds including three new meet records
FPJ SPORTS DESK Mumbai
Anonymous seven- year- old Kenisha Gupta of Radio Club eclipsed a 16- year- old mark and helped herself to four individual gold with an astonishi
ng three new meet records to announce her arrival, in the 29th Otters Open Swimming & Diving Championship at the Otters Club, Bandra.
Amidst a galaxy of star swimmers, Gupta took away the opening days honours with gold in the girlsalt39under- 9 50m freestyle, and new meet records in the 50m backstroke and breaststroke, and 100m individual medley to complete a breathtaking performance.
In the process, Gupta left behind her formidable arch- rival Saee Patil of Police Swimming Pool in second place in all four categories in a fierce battle for supremacy, while tiny Akanksha Shah of Matunga Gymkhana was third behind the duo in the freestyle, backstroke and individual medley.
Though her pet event is the breaststroke, Gupta, of Fazlani Lalt39Academy Globale school, Mazagaon set a blistering pace that left her adversaries far behind as she clocked 00.40.86 seconds to erase the 1996 mark of Khar Gymkhanas Anshuka Parwanis 00.41.85 in the 50m backstroke.
‘I was instructed by my coach Kishen Singh to set a goal with an aim to break the record,’said a beaming Gupta who is among the probables for the upcoming sub junior nationals that will be held in Mumbai early May. ‘I made sure I got off to good starts and never really worried about whos following.’The other individual record breakers were, queen of the pool Aakanksha Vora and Muskaan Tolani, both of Otters Club, Gauri Desai of Juhu Vile Parle Gymkhana and Jason alt145 The Juggernautalt39Smith of Khar Gymkhana.
National gold medallist Vora and Neha Prasad of Khar Gymkhana impressed among the girls with three gold each, while Apurva Sharma of Mulund Swimming Pool earned an equal number of gold among the boys. Voras effort included a new meet record in the 200m individual medley for girlsalt39under- 15. Khar Gymkhana alt145 Aalt39completed an action- packed day when they eclipsed their own record in the boys under 7- 11 4x50m medley relay in which second- placed Goregaon SC and third- placed Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj SS bettered the previous mark of 02: 32.36 in a dramatic finish.
RESULTS Girls U- 9: 50m freestyle: 1. Kenisha Gupta ( Radio Club) 00: 35.38, 2. Saee Patil ( PSP) 00: 36.32, 3. Akanksha Shah( Matunga Gym) 00: 36.91.
50m backstroke: 1. Kenisha Gupta ( Radio Club) 00: 40.86 – NMR; 2. Saee Patil ( PSP) 00: 42.84, 3. Akanksha Shah ( Matunga Gym) 00: 44.41.
50m breaststroke: 1. Kenisha Gupta ( Radio Club) 00: 44.36 – NMR; 2. Saee Patil ( PSP) 00: 48.06, 3. Kimaya Kajrolkar ( MLWB) 00: 49.72.
100m Ind. Medley: 1. Kenisha Gupta ( Radio Club) 01: 26.99 1 – NMR; 2. Saee Patil ( PSP) 01: 30.59, 3. Akanksha Shah ( Matunga Gym) 01: 36.88.
Girls U- 11: 100m freestyle: 1. Muskaan Tolani ( Otters Club) 01: 08.24 – NMR; 2.
Rayna Saldanha ( Otters Club) 01: 09.34; 3. Tejaswita Bhardwaj ( Goregaon SC) 01: 16.79.
Girls U- 15: 200m Ind. Medley: 1.
Aakanksha Vora ( Otters Club) 02: 28.24 – NMR; 2. Monique Gandhi ( Khar Gym) 02: 30.48 – BMR; 3. Antara Agarwal ( NSCI) 02: 39.03.
Under 13- 15: 4x50m freestyle relay: 1.
Khar Gym alt145 Aalt3901: 59.89 – NMR; 2. Otters Club 02: 09.57; 3. CSMSS 02: 16.38.
Women: 100m breaststroke: 1. Gauri Desai ( JVPG) 01: 19.96 – NMR; 2. Rujuta Bhatt ( Khar Gym) 01: 24.85, 3. Kanchi Desai ( JVPG) 01: 25.73.
Boys U- 15: 200m Ind. Medley: 1. Jason Smith ( Khar Gym) 02: 19.48 – NMR; 2.
Vedant Rao ( Otters zClub) 02: 24.10, 3.
Amitesh Raghav ( Khar Gym) 02: 24.68.
Under 7- 11: 4x50m Medley relay: 1.
Khar Gym alt145 Aalt3902: 28.04 – NMR; 2.
Goregaon SC 02: 30.20 – BMR; 3.
CSMSS alt145 Aalt3902: 30.31 – BMR.
