Assam-born swimmer Astha Choudhury on Wednesday broke the senior as well as junior national records in the 100-meter butterfly.

Choudhury broke the 12-year senior national record previously held at 1.03.24 and the junior national record at 1.04.66 with her personal best of 1.02.71 at the 47th Glenmark Junior National Aquatic Championship held in Bangalore today.

Elated at achieving this milestone so early in her swimming career, Choudhury shared her joy, “After two years I’m competing in Junior Nationals and I want to thank my coach Partha Pratim Majumder. It would not have been possible without him. He is my biggest supporter.”

Choudhury said she had trained for the national championship for three months.

“We went home due to the COVID-19 situation. We trained in Delhi the last three months,” the swimming champ told EastMojo.

On being asked if the pandemic posed any specific challenges to her training, she said, “Not just me, all the swimmers faced a lot of problems due to the pools being shut. But my parents were there for me; they helped me a lot and I’m very grateful to them.”