Maharashtra sub-junior, junior swimming: Walunjkar wins gold in under-17 1,500m freestyle

Shaswat Bhome, Aratrika Biswas and Samyak Ramchandra were the other Pune swimmers who won gold medals in their respective events

City swimmer Shalmali Walunjkar came out with a fine performance to clinch a gold medal in the 1,500 metres freestyle event under-17 category at Maharashtra state junior and sub-junior swimming championship at Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex swimming pool in Balewadi on Saturday.

Shalmali Walunjkar in action during the 1,500-metre freestyle event in under-17 category at Maharashtra state junior and sub-junior swimming championship at the Shiv Chhatrapati sports complex swimming pool in Balewadi on Saturday. (HT PHOTO)

Walunjkar completed the distance of 1,500-metre freestyle with the timings of 20 minutes 25.76 seconds to claim the top spot, while Mumbai girls Ananya Pandey (20:42.25) and Suhani Bakshi (20:57.54) took the second and third position respectively.

It turned out to be a decent day for city swimmers as Aratrika Biswas, Shaswat Bhome, and Samyak Ramchandra were the other swimmers who won gold medals in their respective events.

In the 100-metre freestyle event, Biswas from Pune took 1 minute and 09.72 seconds to take the top spot on the podium.

Biswas got better of Mumbai swimmers Aarushi Sharma (1:09.96) and Vikhari Jadhav (1:00.51) who won silver and bronze medal respectively.

Among boys, under-11 category, Bhome showed his class in the 100m freestyle event as he took 1 minute 08.77 seconds to earn the gold medal ahead of Atharvaraj Patil of Kolhapur (1:11.05) and Vedang Gawade of Pune (1:11.33.) who emerged second and third best swimmers.

City-mate Khemla Pawra lost the gold medal with the time difference of 0.4 seconds while bronze medallist Vivaan Sethi of Mumbai completed the event in 34.42 seconds.