On Tuesday, December 16, 2025, 15-year-old Indian swimmer Dhinidhi Desinghu lost her race in the U17 girls’ 50m freestyle swimming at the School Nationals held in Delhi against Charita Phanindranath. Desingu lost by a timing of 0.03 seconds, finishing at 27.05s to take the silver medal. Meanwhile, Charita clocked in a timing of 27.02s to win the gold medal.
The School Nationals were organized by the School Games Federation of India, which saw school-level swimmers in action. In the competition, Desinghu represented Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan while Charita played for Karnataka. Quite interestingly, Desinghu lost a domestic game as an Indian Olympian.
Similarly, at the 2025 Khelo India University Games, double Olympian Srihari Nataraj lost the title in the men’s 50m butterfly in November 2025. He finished with a timing of 25.30s to win the silver medal behind Harsh Saroha.
Desinghu’s career achievements and honours
Desinghu was the youngest Indian to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics. In the women’s 200m freestyle event, she finished in No. 23 in the overall standings with a time of 02:06.96. Meanwhile, India’s Srihari Natraj finished in the second position in the 100m backstroke heats with a time of 55.01 seconds and No. 33 in the overall ranking.
Recently, at the Asian Youth Games 2025 held in Bahrain, India’s Desinghu set a new national record in the 400-metre freestyle event. In the finals, she beat her own record of 4 minutes 24.60 seconds to finish in fifth position with a time of 4 minutes 21.86 seconds. On the other hand, her compatriot Aditi Satish Hegde finished in No. 7 with a timing of 4 minutes 32.00 seconds.
At the National Games 2025, held at Manaskhand Tarantal in Golapur, Uttarakhand, Desinghu bagged three gold medals and set a national record in the women’s 200m freestyle event. She finished the event in 2:03.24, breaking her own previous timing of 2:04.24 scored during the 2023 national championships. Her second gold medal came in the 100m butterfly event defeating Naisha Shetty (1:04.81) and Shristi Upadhaya (1:05.20) with a timing of 1:03.62.
She was also part of the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games. She continued her dominant run at the 37th National Games held in Goa. There she won the Best Women Athlete Award by winning seven gold medals in 200m freestyle, 4×100 freestyle relay, 4×100 medley, 4×200 freestyle relay, 4×100 mixed relay and 100m freestyle. She, however, lost her chance to win a medal in the 100m butterfly and 200m butterfly categories after finishing in seventh and fourth position, respectively.
