Deshwal sisters Saanvi and Anvi star at national swim meet; Paris Olympian Dhinidhi bags 5 gold medals

With their multi-medal haul, Deshwal twins Saanvi and Anvi powered Maharashtra to the title in the Girls’ Group II category at the 40th Sub-Junior & 50th Junior National Aquatic Championships in Bhubaneswar.

Swimmers from Karnataka – the state that won the overall championship title with 799 points – and Maharashtra dominated the competition organised by the Swimming Federation of India, which saw more than 1,000 athletes participating.

Dhinidhi Desinghu soars

Paris Olympian Dhinidhi Desinghu, the youngest athlete in India’s contingent, ended the tournament with five gold medals, more than any other swimmer. She was adjudged the best swimmer in Girls Group II.

Dhinidhi’s performance would have been good enough for Karnataka to win the title in this category, thus ensuring a clean sweep for the southern state, but Saanvi and Anvi had other ideas.

The Deshwal twins bagged four gold and four silver medals between them, underlining their dominance in the pool. On the opening day, Saanvi shattered the meet record in 50m breaststroke, clocking 34.32 seconds and surpassing the previous record of 34.69 seconds set in 2022. It was one of the 11 records broken during the meet.

The championship concluded with Saanvi setting another Junior National Record in the 100m breaststroke, finishing in 1:15.30 seconds, breaking the record set in 2018. The teenager’s remarkable performance marks her out as someone to watch out for.

Saanvi and Anvi, both students of Bombay Scottish School, train under coach Nihar Amin through the Dolphin programme at Otters Club in Mumbai.

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