Shrungi proves her mettle, claims Goa’s second bronze medal

Panaji: Shrungi Bandekar earned Goa second medal when she finished third in the 200m individual medley at the 36th National Games at Sardar Vallabhhai Patel Swimming Pool, Rajkot, on Friday.
Shrungi clocked 2 minutes and 28.64 seconds to bag the bronze medal. Karnataka's Hashika Ramchandra with a timing of 2 minutes 26.23 second and Manavi Varma who needed 2 minutes 27.13 second won gold and silver.
"I am happy that I won the medal. In fact, I could have done better but I had gone to the World Junior Open Water Championship in Seychelles. It hampered my preparations for the Games," said Shrungi.
She finished fifth in the heats before clinching the medal.
"I was pretty confident and pumped up as it was my best chance to win. It was a matter of time as I had recorded better timings. The heat timing didn’t reflect my true potential. So in the final, I tried my best," said Shrungi.
The 19-year-old Mapusa resident took part in five events. She finished eighth in the 50m backstroke, fifth in the 100m, seventh in the 200, while in the 400m individual medley, she settled for another fifth spot.
Shrungi, who originally hails from Curchorem, moved to Mapusa at her aunt Madhuri Pilankar’s home to become the best in swimming from Goa. Over a period of 10 years, she trained hard at Peddem sports complex, juggling with studies and travel.
The move paid off as she is the best as of now. However, lack of coach and swimming facilities forced her to move to Bengaluru and train with coach Bhushan Kumar.
"Hopefully, we will have a coach in the future. We have been waiting for a good coach for a long time. For three years, the pool was in bad condition, so we made numerous appeals to SAG. It is not that a coach would change things drastically, but had I not moved to Bengaluru, I wouldn't have got motivated swimming in Goa," said Shrungi.
Shrungi's phone has been buzzing since her bronze medal winning effort.