Hat-Tricks and Hairlines: Sajan and Rishabh Make It Three, Karnataka Strike Breaststroke Double on Day 2 of Short Course Nationals

Ahmedabad | 26 October 2026

Nine finals. Six winning times inside the listed Indian short-course bests. Two hat-tricks completed, a breaststroke double for Karnataka, and two medals settled by one-hundredth of a second. If the opening night of the 1st Short Course Senior National Aquatic Championships was about arrival, Monday was about staying power. Sajan Prakash and Rishabh Anupam Das each won again to take their tallies to three golds apiece. Karnataka won three titles on the day, both 100m breaststrokes among them, and seven medals in all. And Delhi’s Kushagra Rawat won a 1500m freestyle by four-tenths of a second after more than fifteen minutes of racing. Not every race was a procession. Two medals were decided by 0.01, a 1500m by 0.40, and a backstroke bronze by 0.03. Across the two days, 13 of the 19 winners have now gone faster than the listed Indian short-course best in their event. A short-course pool is 25 metres long, so races carry twice the turns of a 50m pool. Short-course times are kept separately and cannot be compared with long-course national records.

Make It Three: Sajan and Rishabh Keep Collecting

Sajan Prakash, racing for Police, added the Men’s 50m Butterfly to the 200m freestyle and 100m butterfly he won on Sunday. He touched in 23.19, 0.33 ahead of Kerala’s Tanish George Mathew (23.52). Both went under the listed Indian best of 23.55, set by Jananjoy Hazarika at the Speedo Invitational in Dubai in December 2025. The race for bronze was closer still. Maharashtra’s Mihir Ambre (23.80) beat Railways’ Bikram Changmai (23.81) by one-hundredth. It was the second time in two days the pair finished side by side: on Sunday, Mihir took 100m butterfly silver 0.12 ahead of Bikram’s bronze. Rishabh Anupam Das followed his 100m backstroke win with the 50m in 24.02, 0.38 inside Srihari Nataraj’s listed Indian best of 24.40 from the 2021 Short Course World Championships in Abu Dhabi. SSCB’s Vinayak Vijay (24.56) took silver for the second time in two backstroke finals. Telangana’s Suhas Preetham Mylari won bronze in 25.42, 0.03 ahead of SSCB’s Arjun Singh. Rishabh’s three golds include Maharashtra’s 4x100m freestyle relay.

Karnataka’s Breaststroke Double

Surya Jhoyappa O R completed a breaststroke double of his own. A day after winning the 200m, he took the Men’s 100m Breaststroke in 1:02.08, 0.16 ahead of Maharashtra’s Yash Anil Gulhane (1:02.24). Karnataka teammate Manikanta L, Sunday’s silver medallist, took bronze in 1:03.18, and Gujarat’s Kunj Harshul Desai, Sunday’s 200m bronze medallist, was fourth (1:03.38). This is one listed best that was never in danger: Likith Selvaraj Prema’s 59.84 from the 2022 World Cup in Indianapolis is 2.24 seconds faster. The women’s race went to Karnataka too, and reshuffled Sunday’s 200m breaststroke podium. S Lakshya, bronze medallist on Day 1, won the 100m in 1:12.18, 1.23 seconds clear of Maharashtra’s Samaira Mehrotra (1:13.41). Andhra Pradesh’s Vasupalli Naga Greeshmini, fourth on Sunday, took bronze in 1:13.42, one-hundredth behind Samaira, and Maharashtra’s Yashvi Pradeep Kharat was fourth (1:14.05). Lakshya’s time was 0.95 inside Chahat Arora’s listed Indian best of 1:13.13 from the 2022 World Championships in Melbourne.

Charita Phanindranath Flies Clear

Karnataka’s third gold of the day came in the Women’s 50m Butterfly, and it was the biggest winning margin in any 50m race on the day. Charita Phanindranath touched in 27.35, more than a second ahead of Assam’s Jahnabi Kashyap (28.40), who had won two golds on Sunday. Behind them, a tenth of a second covered three swimmers: Railways’ Rujuta Prasad Rajadnya took bronze in 28.48, two-hundredths ahead of teammate Shivangi Sarma (28.50). Charita’s time was 0.65 inside Divya Satija’s listed Indian best of 28.00 from the 2019 South Asian Games.

Tvisha Dixit Goes Under Five Minutes

The biggest improvement on a listed mark came in the Women’s 400m Individual Medley. Maharashtra’s Tvisha Nikhil Dixit won in 4:59.27, the only swimmer in the field under five minutes and 4.09 seconds inside Richa Mishra’s listed Indian best of 5:03.36 from the 2019 South Asian Games. Tamil Nadu’s Shreenithi Natesan (5:02.92) also went under it in taking silver. Bengal’s Sanithi Mukherjee, Sunday’s 100m butterfly silver medallist, won bronze in 5:04.42, with Karnataka’s Sanvi Jha (5:18.42) fifth. Fourth, in 5:16.16, was S Lakshya, on the same evening she won the 100m breaststroke.

Advait Page Sets the Medley Pace

Madhya Pradesh’s Advait Page won the Men’s 400m Individual Medley in 4:24.76, 1.82 seconds ahead of Karnataka’s Shivank Vishwanath (4:26.58), with Telangana’s Dhulipudi Varshith third in 4:29.82. Advait’s time was 1.13 inside the 4:25.89 Sajan Prakash swam at the World Cup in Tashkent earlier this month, the listed Indian best. It was Madhya Pradesh’s first medal of the championships.

Pratyasa Ray Doubles Up in Backstroke

Odisha’s Pratyasa Ray added the Women’s 50m Backstroke to her 100m title, winning in 29.06. Railways’ Rujuta Prasad Rajadnya took silver in 29.36, her second medal of the evening and third of the meet, and Karnataka’s Shalini R Dixit won bronze in 29.81. Pratyasa was the one women’s winner on Day 2 who did not go under the listed mark: Maana Patel’s 28.94 from the 2019 South Asian Games held by 0.12.

Kushagra Rawat Wins the Long One by Four-Tenths

After 60 lengths, 0.40 seconds separated the first two in the Men’s 1500m Freestyle. Delhi’s Kushagra Rawat, fourth in the 200m freestyle on Sunday, won in 15:17.46 from Karnataka’s Sharan S (15:17.86). SSCB’s Atharvraj Sayaji Patil was a distant third in 15:45.26. Karnataka placed four swimmers in the top seven: Sharan, Renukacharya Hodmani (fourth, 15:58.18), Aniketh Bhat Arnady (sixth) and Akshaj Parigi (seventh). The listed Indian best, Aryan Makhija’s 15:01.44 from the 2018 World Championships in Hangzhou, stood by 16.02 seconds.

Record Watch: Six More Under the Listed Indian Bests

Six of the nine Day 2 winners went faster than the listed Indian short-course best in their event. As on Day 1, the SFI result sheet carries no record annotations, and ratification of the first short-course national marks is awaited.

Event	Winner	Time	Previous listed Indian best	Faster by
Women 400m IM	Tvisha Nikhil Dixit (MAH)	4:59.27	5:03.36 — Richa Mishra, 2019	4.09
Men 400m IM	Advait Page (MP)	4:24.76	4:25.89 — Sajan Prakash, 2026	1.13
Women 100m Breaststroke	S Lakshya (KAR)	1:12.18	1:13.13 — Chahat Arora, 2022	0.95
Women 50m Butterfly	Charita Phanindranath (KAR)	27.35	28.00 — Divya Satija, 2019	0.65
Men 50m Backstroke	Rishabh Anupam Das (MAH)	24.02	24.40 — Srihari Nataraj, 2021	0.38
Men 50m Butterfly	Sajan Prakash (Police)	23.19	23.55 — Jananjoy Hazarika, 2025	0.36

Two runners-up also went under the old marks: Tanish George Mathew (23.52) and Shreenithi Natesan (5:02.92).

Day 2 Results at a Glance

Event	Gold	Silver	Bronze
Men 400m IM	Advait Page (MP) 4:24.76	Shivank Vishwanath (KAR) 4:26.58	Dhulipudi Varshith (TEL) 4:29.82
Women 400m IM	Tvisha Nikhil Dixit (MAH) 4:59.27	Shreenithi Natesan (TN) 5:02.92	Sanithi Mukherjee (BEN) 5:04.42
Men 100m Breaststroke	Surya Jhoyappa O R (KAR) 1:02.08	Yash Anil Gulhane (MAH) 1:02.24	Manikanta L (KAR) 1:03.18
Women 100m Breaststroke	S Lakshya (KAR) 1:12.18	Samaira Mehrotra (MAH) 1:13.41	Vasupalli Naga Greeshmini (AP) 1:13.42
Men 50m Butterfly	Sajan Prakash (Police) 23.19	Tanish George Mathew (KER) 23.52	Mihir Ambre (MAH) 23.80
Women 50m Butterfly	Charita Phanindranath (KAR) 27.35	Jahnabi Kashyap (ASM) 28.40	Rujuta Prasad Rajadnya (RSPB) 28.48
Men 50m Backstroke	Rishabh Anupam Das (MAH) 24.02	Vinayak Vijay (SSCB) 24.56	Suhas Preetham Mylari (TEL) 25.42
Women 50m Backstroke	Pratyasa Ray (ODI) 29.06	Rujuta Prasad Rajadnya (RSPB) 29.36	Shalini R Dixit (KAR) 29.81
Men 1500m Freestyle	Kushagra Rawat (DEL) 15:17.46	Sharan S (KAR) 15:17.86	Atharvraj Sayaji Patil (SSCB) 15:45.26

Medal Tally After Day 2

Team	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
Maharashtra	5	4	1	10
Karnataka	4	5	6	15
Police	3	0	0	3
Assam	2	1	0	3
Odisha	2	0	1	3
Telangana	1	1	2	4
Delhi	1	0	1	2
Madhya Pradesh	1	0	0	1
SSCB	0	3	1	4
RSPB	0	2	3	5
Bengal	0	1	1	2
Tamil Nadu	0	1	1	2
Kerala	0	1	0	1
Gujarat	0	0	1	1
Andhra Pradesh	0	0	1	1

Based on the 19 events in the official Day 1 and Day 2 result sheets. Event 20 does not appear on the Day 2 sheet.

Looking Ahead

Two days of racing remain before the championships close on 28 October. Maharashtra lead on golds, Karnataka on medals, and Sajan Prakash and Rishabh Anupam Das have already won three times each. On this evidence, India’s first short-course record book is being written in Ahmedabad. — SwimmingDrive Bureau