Dhinidhi Desinghu makes big splash, creates new national record in 100m freestyle

Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], August 18 : Dhinidhi Desinghu of Karnataka came up with a sensational swim in the 100m freestyle for group II girls to recreate the national record at the 39th Sub-Junior and 49th Junior National Aquatic Championships 2023 in Bhubaneswar, Odisha on Thursday.
The 13-year-old, who trains at the Dolphin Aquatics under coach Madhu Kumar BM, clocked 57.67 secs to erase Maana Patel's record of 59.12 created in 2014. Dhinidhi, with her powerful stroke, was nearly 10m ahead of Sri Charani Tumu of Karnataka (1:02.55) when she touched the pads. Her new national record was only a fraction of seconds slower than the best Indian time of 57.3 which stands in the name of Kenisha Gupta.
In another enthralling race, Ishaan Mehra of Karnataka clocked 1:00.64 to rewrite the national record in 100m freestyle for group II boys. He bettered Suhas Pretham's record of 1:01.29 set in 2022. Finishing behind Ishaan was Vedanta Madhir also of Karnataka. He clocked 1:01.98 to bag the silver.
On the back of his record-breaking performance on day one, Jananjoy Jyoti Hazarika of Assam dashed to a gold medal in the 50m butterfly. He looked at ease, sprinting ahead of Maharashtra's Salil Prashant Bhagwat, to finish first clocking 25.12 while Bhagwat clocked 25.94.
In a race that kept the evening audience on the edge of their seats was the 1500m freestyle for group I boys. Staying ahead of the pack for nearly 900m of the race, Gotteti Sampath Kumar of Andhra Pradesh was pushed to third place by Ronak Nitin Sawant of Maharashtra and Karnataka's Dharshan S who bagged the gold and silver respectively.
Interestingly, Darshan who was swimming in lane no.5 pulled ahead of Sampath Kumar in lane no.4 with just 300m left to finish the grilling 1500m race. In the clear lead, he looked comfortable to bag the gold until Ronak, swimming in lane 7, came up with one of the fastest final laps. He was swift in his finish - swimming the final 100m in one minute flat. Ronak timed 16.27.90 to win gold while Dharshan clocked 16:28.18 to settle for silver and Sampath clocked 16:31.17 to win the bronze medal.
Results:
Boys:
Group I:
1500m freestyle: 1. Ronak Nitin Sawant (Mah) 16:27.90; 2. Dharshan S (Kar) 16:28.18; 3. G Sampath Kumar (AP) 16:31.17
400m freestyle: 1. Yug Chelani (Raj) 4:36.31; 2. Mongam Theerdu (AP) 4:40.65; 3. Saswata Roy (Ben) 4:41.32
100m backstroke: 1. Rishabh Anupam Das (Mah) 57.56; 2. Nithik Nathella (TN) 58.65; 3. Akash Mani (Kar) 59.29
50m butterfly: 1. Jananjoy Jyoti Hazarika (Assa) 25.12; 2. Salil Prashant Bhagwat (Mah) 25.94; 3. Rishabh Singh Dhadwal (Kar) 26.22
Group II:
400m freestyle: 1. MS Nitheesh (TN) 4:49.63; 2. Arnav Ramdas Kadu (Mah) 4:49.79; 3. Pirthviraj Menon (Kar) 4:54.15
100m backstroke: 1.Ishaan Mehra (Kar) 1.00.64 NMR; 2. Vedanta Venkanta Madhir (Kar) 1:01.98; 3. Arnav Ramdas Kadu (Mah) 1.04.67
50m butterfly: 1. Harikarthik Velu (Kar) 27.58; 2. Birai Dutta (Ben) 27.73; 3. Manash PB (Assa) 27.78
Group III:
200m freestyle: 1. Abdul Hafeez (TN) 2:36.30; 2. Chakshu Gowda (Kar) 2:38.46; 3. Kabir A Khubcha (Mah) 2:39.48
100m freestyle: 1. Jas Singh (Kar) 1:04.61; 2. Ajeet Yadav (UP) 1:04.80; 3. Monish Naidu (TN) 1:06.12
Girls:
Group I:
100 M Freestyle: 1. Rujula S (Kar) 59.67; 2. Shalini R Dixit (Kar) 1:00.43; 3. Kshama Iyer (Del) 1:00.59
200m breaststroke: 1. S Lakshya (Kar) 2:40.96; 2. Lineysha Anilkumar (Kar) 2:41.63; 3. Venika Vineet Parikh (Guj) 2:43.08
Group II:
100 M Freestyle : 1. Dhinidhi Desinghu (Kar) 57.67 NMR; 2. Sri Charani Tumu (Kar) 1.02.55; 3. Arianna Jolly (Mah) 1:02.89
200m freestyle: 1. Thanya Shadakshari (Kar) 2:44:21; 2. Mihika Dutta (Kar) 2:44:57, 3. Shreenithi Natesan (TN) 2:46.52
Group III:
100m freestyle: 1. Sanithi Mukherjee (Ben) 1:06.35; 2. Anushka Sanjeev (Mah) 1:08.08; 3. Auna Alva (Kar) 1:08.40
200m freestyle: 1. Shivani Karra (Tel) 2:43.23; 2. Anushka S Vijapur (Mah) 2:43.30; 3. Lasya Sri Kagitha (AP) 2:46.24.