Benedicton Rohit clocks best Indian time in 100m butterfly at Nationals

Tamil Nadu swimmer B. Benedicton Rohit set the pool ablaze on the opening day of the Senior National Aquatic Championship, smashing the the 'Best Indian Time' in the men's 100m butterfly to clinch the gold here on Sunday. Rohit clocked an impressive 52.57s at the indoor Aquatic Centre at the Kalinga Stadium. With his performance, he erased the long-standing Best Indian Time of 52.77s, set by Asian Games medallists Virdhawal Khade in 2009 while also eclipsing the previous national record of 53.24s held by two-time Olympian Sajan Prakash.

With the record breaking swim, Rohit also achieved the 'B' qualification time for the World Championship scheduled to be held in Singapore from July 27. Prakash, representing All India Police, settled for silver with a time of 53.51s, while Railways' Bikram Changmai claimed bronze in 54.35s. In the women's 100m butterfly, Odisha's Shristi Upadhaya and Railways' Astha Choudhary shared the top step of the podium, both clocking identical 1:03.50. Karnataka swimmer Dhinidhi Desinghu (1:03.52) finished a close third.

Karnataka's Aneesh S Gowda edged past Prakash in a thrilling men's 200m freestyle final, clocking 1:50.85 to win by just 0.01 seconds. Prakash timed 1:50.86 for silver, while Shoan Ganguly (1:51.60), also from Karnataka, bagged bronze. The Karnataka quartet of Tanish Mathew, Chinthan Shetty, Dharshan S, and Aneesh Gowda won gold in the men's 4x200m freestyle relay with a time of 7:40.90.

Maharashtra’s team of Atharva Sankpal, Shubham Dhaygude, Om Satam, and Rishabh Das clocked 7:44.98 for a silver Services' quartet, Unni Krishnan S, Adarsh S, Gotteti Sampath Kumar Yadav, and Anand A.S., took bronze in 7:46.29.

Other winners on the day included Delhi's Bhavya Sachdeva (women's 400m freestyle), Railways' Harshitha Jayaram (women's 200m breaststroke), Tamil Nadu's Danush Suresh (men's 200m breaststroke). In swimming, a timing is considered a national record only when it has been achieved at the National Aquatics Championships. Hence, the timings clocked in other meets are called the best Indian time. PTI