Richa Mishra powers her way to a new record in Calcutta on Friday. Picture by Santosh Ghosh

Calcutta:Richa Mishra of Police caused a splash in the Subhas Sarobar pool toppling a 21-year-old record held by Bula Chowdhury in the 57th senior national aquatic championships on Friday.

It was one of the two national records set on the day.

Richa’s (1:04.81) timing in the 100m butterfly was well clear of Bula Chowdhury’s 1:06.19.

“I’m really pleased that a record which stood for so many years has finally been erased,” Bula said later. And she hoped Richa will be able to follow up this performance.

“This augurs well for us not only in the SAF Games, but also in the Asian Games as well,” Bula added.

Bula made the record in the senior nationals in 1982. However, she sounded surprised at the fact that the record took so much time to be broken. “These girls get so much facilities. I’m really surprised why it took so long,” she added.

Richa was a picture of delight following her triumph. “I met Buladi a couple of years back when I missed the mark by a whisker. It would really have been great if I could meet her today,” she said.

It was her third gold of the meet and she hopes to keep this going at the Afro-Asian Games as well.

Meanwhile, Bengal girl Taniya Ganguly (representing RSPB) beat arch-rival Mamoni Mondal to the 3m spring board diving title. En route to the crown, she felled her own national record of 354.95 created in the 2002 Nationals.

Mamoni got the silver with 346.50.

But Taniya was far from ecstatic following the triumph. “I had aimed for the Afro-Asian Games. But strangely enough, the event has been taken off the roster,” she said.

Bengal’s only medal of the day was won by Chaitali Ghosh (bronze in women’s 800m). City boy Akbar Ali Mir (representing RSPB) missed out on a direct qualification for the Athens Olympics inspite of his gold-medal winning show in the 200m back-stroke. He also won the silver in the 800m butterfly.

RESULTS

MEN: 1500 freestyle: 1. Mandar Anand Divase (Police, 16:54.65) 2. Chetan Sharma G.J. (Kar, 17:19.64) 3. Tersihmon Thomas (SSCB, 17:22.72). 100m butterfly: T.A. Sujith (SSCB, 58.10) 2. Akbar Ali Mir (RSPB, 58.13) 3. Arjun Muralidharan (Police, 59.18) 200m backstroke: Akbar Ali Mir (RSPB, 2:14.39) 2. Abhiram N.S. (Kar, 2:17.10) 3. Santhanu Pramanik (SSCB, 2:18.11). Diving: 3m board: Harish V. Annal Das (RSPB, 443. 80) 2. Sandeep Mishra (RSPB, 443.60) 3. Yogesh Hari Watve (SSCB, 426.00). WOMEN: 800m freestyle: Ambica N.S. Iyengar (Kar, 9:49.19) 2. Awani A. Sawani (Police, 10:11) 3. Chaitali Ghosh (Ben, 10:18.81). 100m butterfly: 1. Richa Mishra (Police, 1:04.81) 2. V. Sivaranjani (Kar, 1:06.87) 3. Shubha C. (Kar, 1:08.14). 200m backstroke: Nisha Millet (Kar, 2:29.16) Sumi Cyriac (RSPB, 2:32.48) 3. Sony Cyriac (Ker, 2:34.15). Diving: 3m spring board: Taniya Ganguly (RSPB, 359.75) 2. Mamoni Mondal (RSPB, 346.50) 3. Vidita Rajan Powle (Mah, 311.50).

Amrapali US-bound

Amrapali Das Gupta, top Bengal swimmer, will go to Florida next year for training. If the Swimming Federation of India doesn’t provide the necessary funds, she will “manage on her own”, her coach Ganesh Banerjee said. She is not participating in the ongoing nationals because of school exams.