Aditi Hegde rules the pool, a star to watch out for

For Aditi Satish Hegde, the Maharashtra ace swimmer, it was a dream-come-true finish when she improved on her five-medal haul from the previous edition as she completed an impressive seven-medal haul

Hyderabad: For Aditi Satish Hegde, the Maharashtra ace swimmer, it was a dream-come-true finish when she improved on her five-medal haul (including two gold) from the previous edition as she completed an impressive seven-medal haul, including a staggering five gold in the Khelo India Youth Games in Gaya.

The Nashik girl won three gold and two bronze in individual events, but also in the manner in which she clipped the timings from the last edition in each of the five events in which she competed in both Chennai and Gaya. The best example of this was the 800m Freestyle, where she won only bronze but cut a whopping 19.42 seconds from last year.

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Aditi’s three individual gold medals in the ongoing games were from 200m freestyle (2:09.51), 400m freestyle (4:32.87) and 100m butterfly (1:04.73) while she picked up bronze in 800m freestyle (9:28.20) and 1500m freestyle (18:22.97). She was also part of Maharashtra’s teams that won gold in the 4x100m Freestyle and 4x100m Medley. The 50m freestyle was the only event in which she did not win a medal.

A Khelo India Athlete, who trains at the KI-accredited Agnel Charities in Navi Mumbai, she is self-admittedly a shy lass when out of the pool and answers questions in monosyllables, but when she dives into the pool, she expresses herself.

In her last race of the competition, the gruelling 1500m freestyle on Friday, Aditi struggled for quite a few laps but encouraged by her mother, Radhika Hegde, from the sidelines, she earned a podium finish.

It highlighted her competitive spirit even though she was not at her best.

The Khelo India Youth Games 2025 Bihar saw a glittering girl who had started swimming under the guidance of diligent coaches Shankar Madgundi and Vikas Bhadange at the Rajmata Jijau Swimming Pool, Nashik Road. On the evidence of the improvement shown in the past year, there can be no doubt that the best is ahead for Aditi Satish Hegde.

Clearly a star to watch out for in the future!