Akbar Ali Mir

Calcutta, Sept. 20: After a “disappointing” couple of days, Akbar Ali Mir was back to his record-breaking best. He rewrote the 200m IM mark with a timing of 2:12.29, bettering the previous best of J. Abhijith (2:14.20). Akbar’s was one of four national records set on Day 4 in the 57th national aquatic championships at the Subhas Sarobar.

“I’ve missed the Olympic mark here. But this performance will give me the confidence to try and go for it in the Afro-Asian Games,” Mir said later.

Shikha Tandon of Karnataka sank the 100m women’s backstroke record with a timing of 1:06.95. She bettered Sangeeta Rani’s 1995 record of 1:08.06. Statemate Nisha Millet timed 2:07.92 to smash her own record (2:08.66) in women’s 200m freestyle. V. Sivaranjani’s 2:28.67 in 200m IM was good enough to topple Sangeeta Rani’s (2:32.03) mark.

RESULTS

MEN — 200m freestyle: 1. Amar Muralidharan (Police, 2:00.07) 2. T.A. Sujith (SSCB, 2:00:80) 3. Rahul Batra (Kar, 2:00.95). 200 IM: 1. Akbar Ali Mir (RSPB, 2:12.29), NR 2. Deepak Kumar Singh (2:15.59) 3. Gairik Bardhan (Ben, 2:18.31). 4x100 relay medley: Police (4:06.57) 2. SSCB (4:07.17) 3. RSPB (4:11.80).

WOMEN — 200 freestyle: 1. Nisha Millet (Kar, 2:07.92), NR 2. Reshma Millet (Kar, 2:14.64) 3. V. Remya (Ker, 2:22.59). 200 IM: 1. V. Sivaranjani (Kar, 2:28.67), NR 2. Ambica N.S. Iyengar (Kar, 2:32.02) 3. Rishu Mehra (Police, 2:36.11). 100 backstroke: Shikha Tandon (Kar, 1:06.95), NR 2. Nisha Millet (Kar, 1:07.96) 3. Sumi Cyriac (RSPB, 1:10.14). 50 breaststroke: 1. D. Mridula (Kar, 37.12) 2. Madhura Patil (Mah, 37.26) 3. Bhavana Sharma (Police, 37.72).

Purse stolen

Merwyn Chen, a Delhi swimmer, lost Rs 10,000 and a stop-watch when his bag was stolen from the stands. An FIR has been lodged with the Phoolbagan police station.