Mumbai, March 25: Anannya Nayak of Forest Club created quite a big splash as she set five new meet records in the girls’ under-14 category on the opening day of the MIG Cricket Club’s annual 8th Open Swimming Gala at the Club’s swimming pool on Saturday. The swimming gala, being organized under the auspices of the GMAAA (Greater Mumbai Amateur Aquatic Association), is being conducted after a gap of seven years.
The National champion, Anannya, 13, of Vibgyor High School, Malad, displayed tremendous endurance levels and swam confidently to clinch six gold medals and in the process lowered five records in the 50 metres Backstroke, 50M Butterfly, 50M Freestyle, 100M Freestyle and 100M Individual Medley events. Later, Anannya swam the first leg (back stroke) and spearheaded the Forest Club team to the gold medal in the 4×50 Medley Relay.
Swimming powerfully, Anannya finished the 50M backstroke in a new time of 00:30.37 secs which was better that Khar Gymkhana’s Neha Prasad’s 2013 time of 00:33.44 secs. She rewrote four more records, two each set by Khar Gymkhana swimmers Rujuta Bhatt (2010) and Monique Gandhi (2012). In the 50 M Butterfly event, Anannya set a fast pace and won in time of 00:29.96 secs better that the previous time of 00:31.64 secs and then beat another record of Bhatt as she finished the 50M freestyle in a record time of 00:27.22 which was better than earlier mark 00:29.25 secs.
Later, in the longer races, Anannya smashed Gandhi’s 100M freestyle and the Individual medley events. In the free style she won gold with a time of 01:00.81 secs lowering the earlier time of 01:04.31 secs and then in the Individual Medley she swam powerfully to beat Gandhi’s time of 01:13.50 secs by a distance as she clocked a faster time of 01:09.72 to complete her record-breaking feat. The only gold medal which eluded her was in the 50M Breaststroke which was won by her teammate Shruti Swamy also in a new record time. Anannya had to settle for the bronze as she finished behind Siya Devrukhkar (CSMSS).
“I am extremely excited with my performance. I feel proud of my achievements and I consider this as my best ever showing in all the competitions I have participated in,” mentioned Anannya who won the 50M freestyle gold medal at the last National Champion held at Bhubaneswar in July last year.
Anannya’s club mate Kavish Desai also enjoyed a rewarding day as he bettered two meet records in winning the Boy’s under-16 100M Freestyle and 100M Individual Medley gold medals. Kavish won the freestyle in a time if 00:56.53 secs which was slightly better than the previous record (2013) of 00:56.72 secs held by WSC’s Ishaan Mehra (WSC). Later, he easily claimed the Individual Medley with a faster time of 01:05.78 secs to beat Khar Gymkhana’s Jason Smith’s timing of 01:06.50 set in 2013.
Results – Girls’ U-14 – 50M Backstroke: 1. Anannya Nayak (Forest Club) 00:30.37 NMR; 2. Shruti Swamy (Forest Club) 00:33.93; 3. Ruchika Shetty (MGMO) 00:35.10; 50M Breast Stroke: 1. Shruti Swamy (Forest Club) 00:36.13 NMR; 2. Siya Devrukhkar (CSMSS) 00:37.71; 3. Anannya Nayak (Forest Club) 00:38.03; 50M Butterfly Stroke: 1. Anannya Nayak (Forest Club) 00:29.96 NMR; 2. Shruti Swamy (Forest Club) 00:30.00 BMR; 3. Ruchika Shetty (MGMO) 00:31.46 BMR; 50M Freestyle: 1. Anannya Nayak (Forest Club) 00:27.22 NMR; 2. Shruti Swamy (Forest Club) 00:29.12 BMR; 3. Siya Devrukhkar (CSMSS) 00:30.28; 100M Freestyle: 1. Anannya Nayak (Forest Club) 01:00.81 NMR; 2. Shruti Swamy (Forest Club) 01:04.95; 3. Siya Devrukhkar (CSMSS) 01:05.10; 100M Individual Medley: 1. Anannya Nayak (Forest Club) 01:09.72 NMR; 2. Shruti Swamy (Forest Club) 01:12.38 BMR; 3. Siya Devrukhkar (CSMSS) 01:14.85.
Boys’ U-16 – 50M Backstroke: 1. Kavish Desai (Forest Club) 00:31.38; 2. Veer Mehta (CSMSS) 00:31.60; 3. Om Satam (YMCA) 00:31.79’; 50M Breaststroke: 1. Raghav Bhatia (Acres) 00:34.34; 2. Om Satam (YMCA) 00:34.90; 3. Kavish Desai (Forest Club) 00:35.46; 50M Butterfly stroke: 1. Raghav Bhatia (Acres) 00:28.75; 2. Kavish Desai (Forest Club) 00:29.53; 3. Shardul Mhatre (PSP) 00:29.64; 50M. Freestyle: 1. Om Satam (YMCA) 00:26.37; 2. Kavish Desai (Forest Club) 00:26.47; 3. Veer Mehta (CSMSS) 00:27.65; 100M Freestyle: 1. Kavish Desai (Forest Club) 00:56.53 NMR; 2. Om Satam (YMCA) 00:58.71, 3. Raghav Bhatia (Acres) 01:02.53; 100M Individual Medley: 1. Kavish Desai (Forest Club) 01:05.78 NMR; 2. Om Satam (YMCA) 01:06.50 EMR; 3.Raghav Bhatia (Acres) 01:09.63.
