Advait Page, Suvana Baskar win treble, dominate swimming meet

NEW DELHI: Madhya Pradesh’s Advait Page was a cut above the rest as he won the boys 800m freestyle, claiming three medals in the Khelo India games at the SPM Swimming Pool Complex on Saturday. He won the gruelling event at 8:51.89 seconds.

In the girls group, Karnataka’s Suvana V Baskar was the most successful, winning three medals, including gold in 200m backstroke. She won silver in 200m and 4x100 medley events.

Page, the Indore based junior international, was ahead of his rivals after the first lap. As the 16-lap event progressed, the one

stroke lead was extended by a few metres. He also won silver in the 200m medley. His third medal of the day was a bronze in 200m backstroke.

Page’s main events are 800m and 1500m freestyle, but he took part in the other events, having qualified through the junior national and School Games Federation of India (SGFI) events.

The national champion said his focus will remain on freestyle events. However, Page said he will have to cut almost a minute in the 1500m to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

However, his short term goal is to compete in the Youth Olympics in October. “Have a packed schedule due to studies and training, but working hard to achieve my goal,” he said.

In 50m freestyle, there was keen competition between Neel Roy of Maharashtra and Srihari Nataraj of Karnataka. Roy won at 24.19 secs with Nataraj second clocking 24.53.