(Top) Esha Chakraborty swims to the 50m breaststroke (girls group I) gold and record at the state championships in Subhas Sarovar pool. (Above) Sarajit Naskar, who won the boys group III 800m gold on Monday. Pictures by Santosh Ghosh

Calcutta: Avirup Dutta Mazumdar of Calcutta swam to his second consecutive record in the ongoing state age-group aquatic championships Monday when he won the boys group I gold in the 800m freestyle in 9:18.53.

That was better than Manoj Biswas’ (Bardhaman) mark of 10:13.90, set last year. On Sunday Avirup had wiped off the 11-year-old 1500m record.

Monday’s race was a very well paced one, all the top three finishing within the existing record time. Biswas, who held the record till Monday, finished at 9:38.48 for silver and Saibal Banerjee clocked 9:55.67 for bronze.

Two more records were rewritten on the second day of the championships. Also in the limelight were Esha Chakraborty of Howrah in girls group I and Sarajit Naskar in boys group II. Both were record breakers.

Esha had rewritten Pushpa Banik’s mark in the heats Sunday, clocking 0:39.47 in 50m breaststroke. Monday she was virtually unstoppable, pulling ahead of the field early and never looking back to finish in 0:38.79, putting her name again to the record, winning gold and finishing almost a second ahead of second-placed Ankana Sil of Calcutta (0:39.86).

Esha, a class X student in Bally where she lives and practises, has already made a mark in the long distance, having completed the 19km Murshidabad swimming meet and having stood third in the Ahiritola Ganges meet. She will also take part in the 50m butterfly and the 200m individual medley races in these championships.

Sarajit of South 24 Parganas completed the 800m freestyle for boys in group II in 10:16.24. In the process he wiped out the existing mark of 10:29.93, set by Sandip Basak of Hooghly last year.

Naskar swam way ahead of the field, with Papan Sauttya of Midnapore claiming silver at 10:30.38.

Records apart, Ratna Mondal of South 24 Parganas swam to three golds (50m freestyle in girls group IV, 50m backstroke and 100 freestyle) Monday, while Tagari Baidya of South 24 Parganas (10m freestyle in girls group IV) and Saheb Bangal of Midnapore (50m freestyle in boys group IV and 50 breaststroke) swam to two golds each.

Manoj Biswas, whose 800m freestyle record was sent for a toss early in the day by Avirup, later regained some pride when he swam to the 100m backstroke (boys group I) gold.

In dire straits

Meanwhile, The Bengal Amateur Swimming Association (BASA) is in dire straits, financially. Hence the ongoing state championship, instead of adding another feather to the association’s cap, is proving to be a big liability, according to Ramanuj Mukhopadhyay, head honcho of BASA.

“There has to be some incentive, sponsor-wise, for swimming here,” he lamented. “We are improving our timings 15-20 per cent on an average, and we have nothing to show for that in our coffers.”

If this scenario continues, drastic action might become necessary to keep the organisation alive, he claims.

Lately, Bengal sprinters have come to the limelight, but with institutions like the Railways taking them over, the BASA is left with a faint after-glory which does not really make hay.