THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Young Arhatha Magavi handed down the

08/10/09

Sporty India Updated

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Young Arhatha Magavi handed down the first defeat to the seasoned Richa Mishra in over two years in a domestic event on the third day of the 63rd National senior aquatics meet at the LNCPE pool, Kariyavattom, on Wednesday.

It was a superb effort by the 15-year-old Karnataka schoolgirl. Magavi was all smiles after she outsmarted Mishra and that too with a new National record to boot. Mishra had last tasted defeat in a domestic event at the Guwahati National Games, in early 2007, when she lost to Pooja R. Alva in the 200m butterfly final.
Of the six finals listed for the day, the 100m butterfly was the much anticipated event especially after the Bangalore girl had won the 200m butterfly gold with such ease on Tuesday.

On lane four stood Magavi by virtue of having clocked the best timing in the heats and next to her was placed Mishra, who held both the meet and National records, as the swimmers lined up to meet the starter’s gong.
Terrific start
Magavi, blessed with a terrific start, made the most of it and was clearly placed in front of the pack by the first 25m itself. Magavi kept on kicking well and finished with a sub 1:04, a first for an Indian.

Mishra tried to catch up but in vain. Her only consolation was that she too finished well below her existing meet record.
Magavi’s astounding 1:03.24 not only lowered Mishra’s meet mark of 1:04.81 but also the latter’s Indian best performance of 1:04.45 set at the 2007 Asian age-group championships. Mishra clocked 1:04.52 on Wednesday.

Kanchi Desai (Maharashtra) won the 800m freestyle while Karnataka, with Magavi as its anchor, topped the 4x200m freestyle relay.

In the men’s section, Rehan Poncha (Karnataka) helped himself to his second individual gold medal of the meet as he added the 400m individual medley title to the 200m butterfly that he won on Tuesday. In full control right from the start, the 23-year-old posted a new meet record time of 4:30.13 as against his own old record of 4:33.59.

Merwyn Chen (Railways), the eventual silver medal winner, finished a full 19 seconds behind Poncha.
Poncha’s teammate Aaron D’Souza too did not disappoint as he won the 100m freestyle with a new meet mark.
The results (all finals): Men: 100m freestyle: 1. Aaron D’Souza (Kar), 0:51.43s – New Meet Record; Old Record – 0:51.93s, 2. Ashwin Menon (Kar), 0:53.58s, 3. K. Mani (Rly), 0:54.63s. 400m individual medley: 1. Rehan Poncha (Kar), 4:30.13 – NMR; OR – 4:33.59; 2. Merwyn Chen (Rly), 4:49.58, 3. Mandar A. Divase (Pol), 4:51.52. 4x200m freestyle relay: 1. Karnataka, 8:13.94, 2. Police, 8:19.52, 3. Railway, 8:27.15.

Women: 800m freestyle: 1. Kanchi Desai (Mah), 9:41.21, 2. Sushaka Pratap (Kar), 9.47.99, 3. Aditi Dhumatkar (Mah), 9:50.12. 100m butterfly: 1. Arhatha Magavi (Kar), 1:03.24 – New National Record; Old Record – 1:04.45, 2. Richa Mishra (Pol), 1:04.52, 3. Vandita Dhariyal (Guj), 1:05.13. 4x200m freestyle relay: 1. Karnataka, 9:09.68, 2. Maharashtra, 9:30.81, 3. Tamil Nadu, 9:41.97.
Diving: Women: 3m springboard: 1. Hruthika Shriram (Rly), 185.85 points, 2. Karishma M. Mohite (Kar), 168.70, 3. Sushmeeta Vasta (Goa), 163.80.

Waterpolo (preliminary league): Men: Group D: Maharashtra bt Bengal 7-1. Women: Group A: Police bt Bengal 6-1. Group B: Kerala bt Delhi 15-0; Karnataka bt Manipur 5-0.