Asian Age group swimming Championship | Virdhawal Khade clinches gold in 50m freestyle
India’s star swimmer Virdhawal Khade extended his stupendous form on the second day of the 10th Asian Age Group swimming championship on Wednesday after winning the gold in his preferred 50m freestyle. Elsewhere, Kushagra Rawat also added a third gold medal by winning the 1500m freestyle.
Despite winning the yellow metal and coming within 0.04 seconds of matching his own previous meet record that he set back in 2009 as a teenager, Khade couldn’t better his personal best of 22.43 seconds that could have helped him inch closer to the Olympic Qualifying Time (22.01) A-mark. He could clock 22:59 seconds this time.
“Very disappointed,” Khade said later. “I should have done way better. I got too excited and tried to power through. I got a brilliant start I feel, the start I had trained for. Usually, I pull off after the 25m, but it just didn’t happen because I ruined my technique due to over-excitement,” said Khade, reported The Hindu.
Though this wouldn’t be the end of road for Khade’s Olympics dream for the 28-year-old still has time till June 29, 2020, to achieve the A-mark timing, this was a real chance for Khade to get the job done especially after he clocked 22.44 seconds at the senior Nationals in Bhopal earlier this month.
Apart from Khade, 14-year-old Shoan Ganguly has kept his maiden maiden Age Group championship campaign on the right track as he added another silver medal to the gold and two silvers he had already won on the opening day. In the Group II boys’ 400 freestyle, Ganguly managed to set a new personal best by finishing in 4:07.21. He also came fourth in 200m butterfly.
“It will now push me to do better the next time. This is my first Asian meet. I just wanted to give my best time. Pradeep sir trained us for 4 to 5 weeks. The camp was a bit hard but good. He told me that the competition will be very hard. it was not as hard as expected,” Ganguly added.
Rawat also kept the torch burning by winning a third gold in 1500m freestyle in 15:41.54.
The results
Open category: Men: Freestyle: 50m: 1. Virdhawal Khade 22.59s, 2. Khurshidjon Tursunov (Uzb) 22.96; 3. Gharehhassanloo Benyamin (Irn) 23.23; 1500m: 1. Kushagra Rawat 15:41.54, 2. Chang Cheng Li Wei (Tpe) 15:49.85, 3. Kittiya Tanakrit (Tha) 16:19.75; Breaststroke: 50m: 1. Vladislav Mustafin (Uzb) 27.68, 2. Denis Petrashov (Kyr) 28.35, 3. S.P. Likith 28.38; Butterfly: 100m: 1. Wongcharoen Navaphat (Tha) 54.06, 2. Sajan Prakash, 54.42, 3. Mhah Qali Bbas (Kuw) 55.10; 400m IM: Klzie Ayman (Syr) 4:30.22, 2. S. Siva 4:32.11, 3. Ketin Nuttapong (Tha) 4:37.11.
Women: Freestyle: 50m: 1. Srisa Ard Jenjira (Tha) 26.16 (NMR; OR: 26.29, Yang Xialoin (Chn), 2015), 2. Khader Baqlah Talita Bishara (Jor) 26.37, 3. Junkrajang Natthanan (Tha) 26.51; 1500m: 1. Junkrajang Natthanan (Tha) 17:39.93, 2. Shivani Kataria 17:58.16, 3. Teeka Katawan (Tha) 18:00.86; Breaststroke: 50m: 1. Srisa Ard Jenjira (Tha) 32.12 (NMR; OR: 32.46, Yekaterina Sadovnik (Kaz), 2009), 2. Vu Thi Phuong Anh (Vie) 33.04, 3. Boonamphai Saovanee (Tha) 33.24; Butterfly: 100m: 1. Kittiya Patarawadee (Tha) 1:02.53, 2. Sounthornchote Suspasuta (Tha) 1:02.57, 3. Liu Pei Ting (Tpe) 1:02.94; 400m IM: 1. Pawapotako Phiangkhwan (Tha) 5:04.97, 2. Wong Ching Lam Athena (Hkg) 5:08.97, 3. Nimdam Kanitta (Tha) 5:12.79.
Mixed 4x100m medley: 1. Thailand 3:39.17, 2. Uzbekistan 3:41.73, 3. India 3:42.56.
Other Indian medallists (number indicates position):
Group I: Boys: Butterfly: 100m: 2. Tanish George 55.98; Group II: Boys: Freestyle: 400m: 1. Shoan Ganguly 4:07.21; Butterfly: 200m: 2. Utkarsh Patil 2:09.82.
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