Tamil Nadu swimmer B Benedickton Rohith clocked the best Indian time in the men's 100m butterfly event on the first day of the Senior National Aquatic Championships here on Sunday. Rohit clocked 52.57 seconds at the Indoor Aquatic Centre of Kalinga Stadium. With this performance, he improved the best Indian time of 52.77 seconds set by Asian Games medalist Virdhawal Khade in 2009. He also improved the previous national record of 53.24 seconds set by two-time Olympian Sajan Prakash.

With this, Rohit also achieved the 'B' qualification level for the World Championships to be held in Singapore from July 27. Prakash, representing the All India Police, won the silver medal with a time of 53.51 seconds, while Bikram Changmai of Railways won the bronze medal with 54.35 seconds. In the women's 100m butterfly, Srishti Upadhyaya of Odisha and Aastha Chaudhary of Railways topped with identical times of one minute 3.50 seconds.

Karnataka's Aneesh S Gowda won the men's 200m freestyle by just 0.01 seconds, clocking 1:50.85. Karnataka's quartet of Tanish Mathew, Chintan Shetty, Darshan S and Aneesh Gowda won the men's 4x200m title with a timing of 7:40.90.

Delhi's Bhavya Sachdeva won the women's 400m freestyle, Railways' Harshita Jayaram won the women's 200m breaststroke and Tamil Nadu's Danush Suresh won the men's 200m breaststroke. A national record in swimming is considered only if it is achieved during the National Aquatic Championships. The times of other competitions are termed as Best Indian Time.

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