Mana Patel, Virdhawal Khade win best swimmers' award

RAJKOT: Mana Patel of Gujarat and Maharashtra's Virdhawal Khade emerged as the best swimmers of the 69th senior National Aquatic Championship.

Mana, who broke her national record by 13 micro second in women's 50m backstroke race, was adjudged the best swimmer in the women's category of the competition that concluded last night.

Mana, on the concluding day, won the gold medal by setting a new national record by finishing the 50 m backstroke even taking 30:25 second. Earlier in 2014, she had set a record in the 50m backstroke event taking time of 30:38 seconds.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra's Virdhawal Khade was declared best swimmer of the event in men's category.

The Karnataka aquatic team was adjudged the best team for its overall performance in the competition.

Karnataka won 28 medals (9 gold, 8 silver and 11 bronze) and stood second.

The Railway was at the top in the points table winning 27 medals (14 golds, 9 silver and 4 Bronze), while Maharashtra (29 medals) and Gujarat (14 medals) stood at third and fourth positions, respectively.

Table-toppers' Railways won the award in men's swimming team performance while in women's category the trophy went to Karnataka.

In Waterpolo event, Railway won in men's category, while Kerala won in women's category.

Over 700 swimmers from across the country had taken part in the five-day-long event organised jointly by the Swimming Federation of India (SFI) and Gujarat State Aquatic Association (GSAA) and hosted jointly by the Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) and Rajkot District Swimming Association (RDSA).

Prime Minister Narendra Modi sent a message to the organisers and praised their efforts for hosting the event successfully.