Nataraj’s golden start in the pool
LIGHTNING QUICK Asian Games swimmer from Karnataka in the spotlight; Delhi’s Nisar Ahmed fastest on the track
PUNE: Srihari Nataraj is ahead of his age. While most competitors at the Khelo India Youth Games (KIYG) are still dreaming of representing India at the senior level, the Bengaluru-based teenage swimmer has already competed at the Asian Games and Commonwealth Games.
True to his potential, the 18-year-old Nataraj clinched a second gold AT the KIYG in the U-21 100m backstroke event with a time of 57.07 seconds on Friday. Goa’s Xavier D’souza (58.08 sec) and Karnataka Siva Sridhar (59.79sec) came second and third respectively.
Nataraj, who holds the senior national records in 50m (26.19 sec), 100m (55.86 sec) and 200m (2:02.83 seconds) backstroke, said he could have bettered his timing.
“This is the first competition of the year so I was a little rusty. But I would want to take this as a first step in an important year. I have the World Championships and also the Olympic qualification coming up,” said Nataraj, who finished sixth in the 200m backstroke in Jakarta.
“I have already attained the timing for ‘B’ qualification and now I am going for ‘A’ qualification timing. I will have to improve by leaps and bounds. So, I will have to buck up. Training abroad is an option this year but I will think about it only after March as my class XII board exams are coming up.
Apart from Nataraj’s gold, Karnataka swimmers finished on top in two other events --- Siva Sridhar (4:41.75 seconds in U-21 400m medley) and Nina Venkatesh (1:07.87 seconds in U-17 100m backstroke). Delhi and Maharashtra swimmers also claimed two gold each.
NISAR CLINCHES GOLD
Delhi’s Nisar Ahmed came on top in the U-17 100m race with a timing of 10.96 seconds. He was followed by statemate Anshul (11.07 seconds) in second place and Andhra Pradesh’s Bharat Peddanaturu (11.10 seconds) in third.
On the second day of the athletics event, Delhi’s Ritesh Choudhary was way ahead of others in the U-17 boys 110m hurdles as he clinched gold in 14.38 seconds. The silver went to Maharashtra’s Tejas Shirse (14.8 seconds) and West Bengal’s Dibyasundar Das (14.59 seconds) won bronze.
The top honours in the U-21 110m hurdles went to host Maharashtra’s Alden Noronha (14:10 seconds) who edged past Kerala’s Mohammed Fais (14.11 seconds) and Maharashtra’s Abhishek Ubhe (14.6 seconds). State Maharashtra 26 22 29 Delhi 20 14 17 Haryana 14 15 24 Uttar Pradesh 9 10 11 Tamil Nadu 6 14 8
G Gold G
S Silver S B Total 77 51 53 30 28
B Bronze
In U-17 boys triple jump, Tamil Nadu won gold and silver with P Asadullah (14.98m) and Mdonald (14.60m) coming first and second, respectively. Punjab’s Napinder Singh (14.55m) came third.
ODISHA, HARYANA WIN
Odisha and Haryana won their respective Pool B matches in the U-21 category to advance to the hockey semi-finals. Haryana produced an emphatic 6-1 win over hosts Maharashtra to finish pool stages with a tally of six points from three matches. In the other Pool B match, Odisha edged past Jharkhand 2-1 to top their Pool with a tally of nine points.
In the U-21 semi-finals on Sunday, Punjab will take on Haryana while Uttar Pradesh will face Odisha. On Saturday, in the Under-17 semi-finals Odisha will take on Punjab while Uttar Pradesh will be up against Haryana.
DHANUSH SHINES
On the first day of the shooting competition, Telengana and Madhya Pradesh shared a gold medal each. In men’s U-21 10m air rifle, Telengana’s Dhanush Srikanth emerged champion with 248.9 points with Yash Yogeshwar of Goa (247.6) and Arjun Babuta of Punjab (225.6) finishing second and third, respectively.
In men’s U-17 air rifle, Madhya Pradesh’s Avinash Yadav bagged the top honours with 250.9 points, while Divyansh Singh Panwar of Rajasthan (250.7) and Yashvardhan (228.1) of Rajasthan took home silver and bronze, respectively.