Young champs:State-level winners of swimming competition in Cuddalore.
CUDDALORE:
The students of Cuddalore district have bagged as many as 21 medals in the State-level swimming competitions held under the aegis of the Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu and the Dolphin Swimming Academy in Chennai recently.
The medal haul included 11 gold, one silver and nine bronze. The students, trained by coach S.Aruna, had mostly excelled in the events such as butterfly, breast stroke and free style, and to a certain extent in the back stroke event. R.Subash Chander of A.R.L.M.Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Cuddalore, had won three gold medals in the under-8 category, followed by Lathis Saran of C.K. School of Practical Knowledge and P.V. Abishek of A.R.L.M. Matriculation Higher Secondary School who won two gold medals each, and, J. Davis Niranjan of C.K. School of Practical Knowledge won one gold medal in the same category.
R.Rakshana of St.Annes Matriculation Higher Secondary School has to her credit six medals, including one gold, three silver and three bronze medals in the under-8 girl category. In the under-6 category, K. Balram of Krishnasamy Memorial Higher Secondary School and E. Suseendar of C.K.School of Practical Knowledge bagged one gold medal each.
Coach Aruna told The Hindu that a total of 475 contestants from the State, including 15 from Cuddalore, participated in the event. He said that Cuddalore students had a lot of potential to win the State and national-level events. At least two-three national prospects had been identified from the medal winners and they would be given special coaching to hone their skills and technique.
Mr Aruna said that while mornings were devoted to fitness exercise evenings were spent in the pool. He further said that a majority of students liked the butterfly style, followed by breast stroke and back stroke. The free style was common to all. Building up adequate stamina and constant practice would definitely equip the students for the higher-level competitions, he added.