KARACHI: As many as seven records were bettered on the first day of the 22nd Palmolive Sindh Women’s Swimming Championship at Karachi Gymkhana here on Saturday.

The championship commenced early in the morning with a smart march past of all the participating teams. Defending champions Karachi Grammar School had the biggest contingent and walked proud holding their banner and placard high amid thunderous applause as did the independent swimmers.

Earlier, half an hour was also provided for warm-ups. That’s when five-year-old Daniya Bhatia of Karachi Grammar School, taking part in the competition as an individual swimmer, also decided to jump in the pool. “This is her first time ever in a competition and she is freaking out,” her worried mother Sara Afridi told Dawn.

Unfortunately the little one, competing in under-8 25 SC Meter Backstroke couldn’t complete her heat. When Daniya noticed other girls a couple of years older than her overtaking her she froze and held on to the ropes for support in the middle of the pool. That was when it was announced that a strong older swimmer jump in to help her out.

Lining over 300 girls from the marshalling area for their races was also a challenge. If any of the team managers were too lax in getting their swimmers at the right spot at the right time, they were rightly pulled up by director of the meet Veena Masud.

The officials had a big responsibility on their shoulders, Veena Masud , who was also officiating as press secretary besides doing the commentary and announcing of results on the microphone also had to continuously remind the mothers to not make videos or take photographs of the swimmers in the pool. “You know, there may be a child here whose parents won’t appreciate it,” she said.

Later, it was decided that a swimmer being videotaped would be disqualified. “We are an Islamic country and we follow our country’s culture and norms during swimming events for girls,” she told Dawn.

The chief guest of the opening ceremony was Mrs Rahim, wife of the President of Karachi Gymkhana. Some 30 events were held on day one of the two-day championship in freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, medley relay, freestyle relay and individual relay in the various age groups in which seven previous records were bettered. The championship concludes on Sunday.

Results:

1. Anushe Engineer - KGS - 16 & Under - 100M breaststroke 1:23.69 (previous record 1:27.56)

2. Anushe Engineer - KGS - Open - 100M breaststroke 1:22.97 (previous record 1:23.88)

3. Anushe Engineer - KGS - 16 & under - 200M breaststroke 3:03.50 (previous record 3:08.70)

4. Simrah Nasir - KGS - Open - 400m individual medley 6:11.83 (previous record 6:11.57)

5. Rijaa Ghazanfar - KAS- 8 & under 25m butterfly 18:98 in heats (previous record 20:82)

6. Areeba Shaikh - KAS Open 50m butterfly 32:17 (previous record 32:81)

7. Soha Sanjrani - CJM - 16 & under 100m butterfly 1:18.53 (previous record 1:19.72).

Published in Dawn, October 12th , 2014