Bengaluru, Swadesh Mondal of Bengal created his fourth national record here at the ongoing 37th Sub Junior and 47th Junior National Championships 2021, romping to victory in 400m individual medley for Group II boys. He came up with a brilliant effort to push a fighting Shoan Ganguly of Karnataka to second place, much like their battle in the 200m medley event earlier in the week where Swadesh took the gold and Shoan had to settle for a silver.

 

While Swadesh took lead in the butterfly leg, Shoan surged ahead in the second hundred where his backstroke was much faster than his competitor from Bengal. But Swadesh showed his supremacy in the third hundred swimming breaststroke and held on to the lead in freestyle to clinch the race with a time of 4:34.15. He eclipsed Advait Pa'e's record of 4:34.76 set in Pune in 2018.

Shoan clocked 4:34.39 to take home the silver and Kalp S Bohra of Karnataka clocked 4:43.05 to win the bronze medal, the organisers informed in a press release on Friday.

Speaking about his performance in the championship so far, Swadesh said, "It's been a good meet for me. Four golds and managed to create national records in all those four events. Feels pretty awesome."

Talking about the tough fight Shoan posed in this race, Swadesh said, "I did not expect Shoan to give me such a tough fight. I think winning this race makes it that much more special because of the fight he gave."

In another record-breaking performance in the 100m butterfly for group II girls, Hashika Ramachandra of Karnataka clocked 1:05.51 to erase statemate Mayuri Lingraj's national record of 1:05.98 set in 2016. Rishika Mangle also of Karnataka won the silver with a time of 1:06.99 and Pratishtha Dangi of Maharashtra won bronze in 1:09.56.

With just one day remaining in the championship, hosts Karnataka lead the overall medal tally with 134 medals. Maharashtra have 62 medals so far, Tamil Nadu have 38 medals and Bengal have 25.