National Aquatics: Rujula Breaks Meet Record; Olympians Aryan, Sajan, and Srihari Dominate

Bhubaneswar: Karnataka’s Rujula S. set a new national meet record in the Women’s 50m Freestyle on Tuesday at the 78th National Aquatics Championships, held at the Aquatic Centre, Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. She clocked an impressive 26.36 seconds, breaking the long-standing record held by Shikha Tandon and setting a new Best Indian Performance.

Rujula outpaced Avantika Sudhir Chavan of the Railways Sports Promotion Board, who finished second in 26.58 seconds. Karnataka’s rising star Dhinidhi Desinghu secured third place with a time of 26.69 seconds.

Olympians Aryan Nehra, Kushagra Rawat, and Aneesh Gowda delivered thrilling performances in the Men’s 400m Freestyle, with Aryan clinching gold in 3:55.96. Kushagra took silver, just behind at 3:56.84, while Aneesh claimed bronze with 3:57.17.

In the Women’s 1500m Freestyle, Bhavya Sachdeva of Delhi struck gold with a meet record time of 17:35.07. Telangana’s Vritti Agarwal and Karnataka’s Thanya Shadakshari finished second and third respectively, while Odisha’s Shristi Upadhyaya earned her second individual medal—a bronze—in the Women’s 200m Butterfly.

Olympians Srihari Nataraj and Sajan Prakash were also in top form, comfortably winning their respective events. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu’s men's team set a new meet record in the 4x100m Medley Relay.

Key Results:

• Women’s 1500m Freestyle:
  Bhavya Sachdeva (Delhi) – 17:35.07 NMR
  Vritti Agarwal (Telangana) – 17:41.36
  Thanya Shadakshari (Karnataka) – 17:41.40

• Men’s 400m Freestyle:
  Aryan Nehra (Gujarat) – 3:55.96
  Kushagra Rawat (Delhi) – 3:56.84
  Aneesh Gowda (Karnataka) – 3:57.17

• Women’s 200m Butterfly:
  Astha Choudhury (RSPB) – 2:20.63
  Roshini Balasubramanian (Tamil Nadu) – 2:20.77
  Shristi Upadhyaya (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 4x100m Medley Relay:
  Tamil Nadu (Nithik Nathella, Danush Suresh, B. Benedicton Rohit, Adhithya Dinesh) – 3:45.09 NMR
  Karnataka – 3:48.16
  Railways Sports Promotion Board – 3:49.60

With inputs from IANS