New Delhi: Karnataka's Saurabh Sangvekar set the pool ablaze on the first day of the 65th Senior National Aquatic meet in Ranchi on Wednesday. The 17-year-old swam to a new national record in the 800m freestyle in a time of 8:12.57 sec.
Sangvekar slashed almost six seconds off his own record of 8:18.40 set during the Asian Age Group Swimming Championship a month ago. The meet record in the event stood in the name of Mandar Diwase at eight minutes 23.08 seconds. "I didn't think of it (national record). I just went there to better my timing and I am confident that I can go much faster than what I did today," Sangvekar told TOI from Ranchi on Wednesday.
"I am really happy with the timing. I am going to aim for Olympic qualification from here. I know it's achievable," the swimmer added.
Young Sangvekar took to swimming following the footsteps of his elder brother Aditya Sangvekar, also an international swimmer. Sangvekar now trains with National coach Pradeep Kumar at the Basavagudi Aquatic centre in Bangalore.
Meanwhile, three other meet records were set on the day. Railways' Sandeep Sejwal ensured himself of gold and a meet record in 200m breaststroke by clocking 2:16.37. He erased his own record of 2:17.92 set last year. Sejwal was also the part of gold-winning Railways team in 4x100m medley relay, which set a meet record.
Women were not to be left behind as Karnataka's 4x100 medley team's gold-winning performance came with a meet record. Rehan Poncha (200m backstroke), S P Nair (50m butterfly) in the men's category and M Raghavi (200m breaststroke) and Pooja R Alva (50 butterfly) in the women's category were the other gold winners of the day.
TOI