Pune: Breaststrokers Jyoti Patil and Kareena Shankta won gold medals on the final day for Maharashtra as hosts topped the Under-21 swimming team championship ahead of swimming powerhouse Karnataka at the Khelo India Youth Games on Tuesday.
Jyoti swam the 200m breaststroke in 2 minutes 43.54 seconds to win the Women’s Under-21 gold medal ahead of Gujarat’s 2:46.44 as Karnataka’s Harshitha Jayaram was rendered to bronze position with 2:49.37.
Kareena too won the gold medal in 200m breaststroke beating Karnataka duo of Saanvi Rao and Rachana Rao. Thanks to last day flourish Maharashtra (192 points) and Delhi (242) claimed the Under-21 and Under-17 combined swimming team championships respectively. Karnataka finished runners-up in both sections with 187 and 201 points.
Nataraj takes tally to 7 gold
Olympics hopeful Srihari Nataraj took his gold medal tally to seven as Karnataka dominated the pool with most medals, but failed to win the team championship.
Nataraj ended the competition with seven gold medals while his teammate Likith bagged five gold and a bronze.
Among other multiple medallists, there were Maharashtra’s Yuga Birnale (U-21) and Kenisha Gupta (U-17), who earned three gold medals each in the women’s section.
Nataraj faced no challenge in winning the 50m backstroke (Boys U-21) in 26.16 seconds with Goa’s Xavier D’Souza (26.74) more than half a second behind him. Haryana’s Vedant Seth (27.14) was third.
Nataraj won his second individual gold of the day in the 100m freestyle clocking 52.37 seconds. He again finished way ahead of D’Souza (53.15) and Maharashtra’s Aaron Fernandes (54.11).
Delhi’s multiple medallist Prachi Tokas won gold in the first event of the day, the 1500m freestyle (Girls U-17) in 18:09.31. Karnataka’s Khushi Dinesh (18:29.37) and Tamil Nadu’s V. Varsha (18.34.99) were second and third.
Swadesh Mondal, who started the day with four gold medals already in his bag, added a fifth by winning the 200m breaststroke in the Boys U-17 event in 2:26.91. Srideep Mandal of Bengal was second in 2:32.17, while Karnataka’s Litheesh Gowda finished third in 2:33.10.
Suvana Baskar added another gold to Karnataka’s tally in the 50m backstroke for Girls U-17.