PANAJI
Goa's Vihaan Pednekar clinched a bronze medal in the boys' 200m backstroke at the 42nd Sub-Junior National Aquatic Championships in Jaipur, giving the State its first medal of the ongoing competition.
Vihaan clocked 2 minutes 19.43 seconds to finish third in the event, improving on his performance at last year's national championships, where he had reached the final of the same event.
The medal continues an impressive run of form for the 13-year-old swimmer, who dominated the 37th Sub-Junior and Junior State Swimming Championships in Ponda last month. He won seven medals — six gold and one silver — to emerge as the Individual Champion in the Boys II category.
At the state championships, Vihaan rewrote two long-standing Goa records set by Xavier D'Souza in 2015. He clocked 29.89 seconds in the 50m backstroke to eclipse the previous mark of 30.38 seconds, before breaking another 11-year-old record in the 200m backstroke with a time of 2:20.20, bettering D'Souza's 2:22.69.
A Class IX student of St John of the Cross High School, Sanquelim, Vihaan trains at the Basavangudi Aquatic Center in Bengaluru under coach Surajit Ganguly. When in Goa, he trains under Jerry D'Mello.
The championships, organised by the Swimming Federation of India, are being held at the SMS Stadium Swimming Pool in Jaipur from August 6 to 9.
