Nehra sets NR in 400m freestyle

Ahmedabad: Participating in his first senior national championship, Ahmedabad swimmer Aryan Nehra was calmness personified as he set the GMC Balayogi Aquatics Complex in Hyderabad on fire on Sunday with a record-breaking performance in the men’s 400m freestyle at the 76th Senior National Aquatic Championsips 2023.Aryan, son of Gujarat-cadre IAS officer Vijay Nehra, won the gold in 3.52.55 to set a new meet record, and achieved the fastest time in 400m freestyle by an Indian swimmer. En route to his medal-winning feat, he broke the record of Delhi’s Kushagra Rawat, who had achieved the feat in 3.53.68 in Bangalore in 2021. Rawat finished second with a timing of 3.55.45 followed by Karnataka’s Aneesh Gowda. Double Olympian Sajan Prakash finished a lowly fifth behind Gujarat’s Devansh Parmar. With this, Aryan has qualified for the Asian Games in Hangzhou to be held in September this year. He had already made the cut for 800m and 1,500m freestyle.In the women’s 100m backstroke, Olympian Maana Patel continued her reign, bagging the gold medal by setting a new meet record of 1.03.48. She broke her own record of 1:04.33, set in Trivandrum in 2018. The silver was won by Palak Joshi of Maharashtra in 1.04.32 and the bronze by Suvarna Baskar of Karnataka in 1.05.00.Venika Parikh bagged a bronze in women’s 200m breaststroke by finishing the race in 2.43.41. The star of the race, though, was Karnataka’s Lineysha A K, who broke her own record, by completing the swim in 2:37.55.Meanwhile, Gujarat bagged a silver in men’s 4x200m freestyle relay. Devansh Parmar, Anshul Kothari, Aryan Panchal and Nehra came second in 7:45.25. The Karnataka team of Shoan Ganguly, Shivank Vishwanath, Tanish George Mathew and Gowda won the gold in 7:38.39.