Chirag Negi from PAU Club won the gold medal in the 400m freestyle (boys II) event on Saturday at the Ludhiana District Sub-Junior and Junior Swimming Championship as he touched the wall in 5:40.8 seconds. The meet is being organised at Punjab Agricultural University Swimming Pool here.Manntehveer Singh Deo from Ludhiana Club clinched the silver medal with a timing of 5:48.74 seconds and Bhavya Gupta, also from the PAU Club, settled for bronze medal after touching the wall in 6:14.11 seconds.Swimmers from leading educational institutions, clubs and Khanna made an impressive start to the championship.Representing Fin Flyers Club, Kunwar clinched the gold medal in 800m freestyle (boys-IB), clocking 12:00.7 seconds. Aryan Mishra from Swim Force Club secured the silver medal in a timing of 12:47.70 seconds and Kabir Singh, also from Swim Force Club, finished third with as he crossed the finish line in 15:48.72 seconds.In the girls’ 400m freestyle (group II), Aaradhya of Fin Flyers Club dominated the pool, winning the gold medal in 6:35.94 seconds.More than 160 young swimmers are competing for individual honours as well as team titles in the two-day championship being organised by the District Swimming Association, Ludhiana.The major attraction of this year’s meet is the introduction of the Group-IV (10 years and under) category, which has been introduced to encourage young talent and strengthen the sports’ grassroots development, said Balraj Sharma, secretary of the association.Earlier, the championship was declared open by PAU Vice-Chancellor Satbir Singh Gosal. He also felicitated medals winners and encouraged the participants to strive for excellence.Apinder Singh Grewal, president of the association, said swimmers selected during the championship will represent Ludhiana in the 37th Punjab sub-junior, 49th junior and 47th Senior Punjab State Swimming Championship. They tournaments will be held in Ferozepur from July 24 to July 26.