PANAJI
It was a disappointing performance by Goan swimmers at the 77th Senior National Aquatic Championships held at Mangalore, Karnataka from September 10-13.
The nine-member Goan swimming squad comprising Sanjana Manguesh Prabhugaonker, Pooja Tukaram Rawool, Alaqua Brito, Aryan Shashi Sharma, Aahil Sheikh, Dwayne Mario Clemente, Rahul Dayanand Patil, Sagar Dayanand Patil and Purna Amey Shikerkar returned home empty handed. They failed to bag even a single medal at the four-day event which concluded on Friday.
At the last senior nationals held at Hyderabad in July 2023, Goa had won 3 bronze, courtesy Shrungi Bandekar (2 bronze – women’s 200m medley and women’s 400m medley) and Xavier Michael D’Souza (1 bronze – men’s 50m backstroke).
Even during the National Games held in Goa last year, Goa had won 6 swimming medals (3 silver and 3 bronze) with Sanjana Prabhugaonker (2 silver and 2 bronze) and Shrungi Bandekar (1 silver and 1 bronze) contributing to the medals tally.
This time, however, Goa’s star swimmer Sanjana Prabhugaonker, who trains in Dubai, narrowly missed out on a podium finish. She did well to qualify for the finals in each of the four events she participated - 50m backstroke, 100m backstroke, 200m backstroke and 100m freestyle - but could not finish on the podium.
It was so near yet so far for Sanjana as she finished fourth in women's 50m backstroke, 100m backstroke and 200m backstroke with a timing of 30.97, 01:06.60 and 02:25.24 respectively. These timings were however marginally slower than what she had clocked during the 2023 National Games in Goa wherein she had won silver in 100m backstroke (1:05.73) and bronze in 50m backstroke (30.80) and 200m backstroke (2:23.64). In 100m freestyle, Sanjana however finished at eighth position (01:01.35).
Apart from Sanjana, there were some notable performances from Alaqua Brito and Pooja Tukaram Rawool. Both of them narrowly failed to qualify for the finals. Alaqua and Pooja finished ninth overall in women's 50m freestyle and women's 200m medley respectively with a timing of 28.16 and 2:41.08. Only the top-8 finishers in the heats qualify for the finals.
Apart from these three swimmers, it was overall a very poor performance put up by the rest of the Goan swimming contingent. Their timings left much to be desired even though they had participated in multiple categories.
As usual, Karnataka which is considered as the “Swimming powerhouse of India” were crowned champions once again. They won a whopping 33 medals which included 17 gold, 12 silver and 4 bronze. Tamil Nadu (14 medals – 6 gold, 4 silver and 4 bronze), Railway Sports Promotion Board (19 medals – 4 gold, 3 silver and 12 bronze) and Maharashtra (22 medals – 3 gold, 11 silver and 8 bronze) occupied the second, third and fourth position respectively in the medals tally.
Notable performances from Goan swimmers: (Name-Event-Timing-Rank) Sanjana Manguesh Prabhugaonker - Women's 50m backstroke - 30.97 - 4; Sanjana Manguesh Prabhugaonker - Women's 100m backstroke - 01:06.60 - 4; Sanjana Manguesh Prabhugaonker - Women's 200m backstroke - 02:25.24 - 4; Sanjana Manguesh Prabhugaonker - Women's 100m freestyle - 01:01.35 - 8; Alaqua Brito - Women's 50m freestyle 28.16 - 9; Pooja Tukaram Rawool - Women's 200m medley - 2.41.08 - 9.
