Eyes Set On Olympic Qualification, Indian Swimmers Look To Set The Pool Ablaze

With their sight set on the Olympic Qualification, Indian swimmers are geared up for a strong medal haul at the 10th Asian Age Group Swimming Championships to begin in Bengaluru on Tuesday, 24 September 2019 at the Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence.

The 9-day competition considered as the largest aquatic championships in Asia will see over 1000 participants taking part in four disciplines namely swimming, diving, water polo and artistic swimming.

The 44-member India swim team will be lead by ace swimmer Sajan Prakash taking part in the 100m, 200m butterfly and 200m individual medley while his compatriot and fastest Indian swimmer Virdhawal Khade will be keeping in mind the ‘A’ cut time of 22.01 seconds when he steps on the starting block for 50m freestyle event. He will also be taking part in the 100m freestyle and 50m butterfly event.

India’s backstroke sensation Srihari Nataraj who has been in lethal form having clocked the ‘B’ qualification time in 100m backstroke at the FINA Junior World Championships last month will be aiming to swim past his personal best of 54.69 seconds, the ‘A’ cut for this event is 53.85 seconds. Srihari will also participate in the 50m and 200m backstroke as well as 100m freestyle event. Middle and long-distance freestyle swimmer Kushagra Rawat is another swimmer to watch out for in the open category while among the women in the open category, sprinter Rujuta Khade, backstroker Maana Patel and middle-distance swimmer Shivani Kataria are expected to contribute to India’s medal tally.

A strong line-up in the Group I boys will see Tanish G Mathew lead the charge as he takes part in 50,100, 200m butterfly. Hiten S Mittal, Sanjay CJ, Swadesh Mondal are among the other Group I swimmers expected to make podium finish.

Suvana Bhaskar, Kenisha Gupta, Kushi Dinesh will be India’s medal hopes in the Group I girls category while Shoan Ganguly, Vedant Madhavan, Sahil Laskar, Devansh Parmar, Utkarsh Patil and Vidith Sankar have been named in the Group II Boys. Apeksha Fernandes, Bhavya Sachdeva, Ridhima Veerendra and Nina Venkatesh have been selected in the Group II girls category.

“The Indian team has been selected basis national trials and the cut off time set by Asia Swimming Federation. These 44 swimmers are the best in the country and this edition of Asian Age Group Championships taking place at home gives them a great opportunity to make a mark at the international level,” Virendra Nanavati, executive director, Swimming Federation of India.

The event will witness top competition from countries such as Japan, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Thailand, Kazakstan, Iran, Qatar, Jordan, Kuwait, Kyrgyz Republic, Maldives, Nepal, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkmenistan, UAE, Uzbekistan, Vietnam, Thailand, Sri Lanka, South Korea, Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Bangladesh and also Syria.

“We have all been eagerly awaiting the start of this Championships and our excitement is palpable as we are competing in an International meet in Bengaluru for the first time. The home advantage will surely be a driving force and we have kept the ‘A’ cut time in mind during our training in the lead up to this event. We are confident of a good show and personally I am looking to swim faster than the Senior Nationals last month,” stated Virdhawal Khade.

“Many of us were not fully tapered during the Senior Nationals held in August. This was to ensure we peak at the right time and I am confident many of us will improve our personal bests during this meet. It’s important to not feel the pressure of making the ‘A’ cut,” expressed Srihari Nataraj.

Shivani Kataria, who represented India at the 2016 Rio Olympics, said she is hoping for a good medal haul. “I am taking part in six events so recovery and ample rest between my events is important. Since this is a very short meet of four days, I need to be mentally and physically ready to swim back-to-back events,” she said.

The event will have participants in open category (18 years and above), as well as Age Groups I (15-17 years) and II (14 years and below). In the previous edition, India won a total of 40 medals in Swimming with 5 Gold, 13 Silver and 22 Bronze Medals while in Diving India won 3 Gold, two Silver and three Bronze Medals.

SWIMMING

Open Category:

Men:

1. Anand Anilkumar Shylaja – 200m Freestyle, 400m Freestyle

2. Virdhawal Vikram Khade – 50m and 100m Freestyle, 50m Butterfly

3. Supriyo Mondal – 50m, 100m and 200m Butterfly

4. Sajan Prakash – 100m and 200m Butterfly, 200m Individual Medley

5. Kushagra Rawat – 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m Freestyle

6. Siva S – 200m Backstroke, 400m Individual Medley

7. Likith Selvaraj – 50m, 100m and 200m Breaststroke

8. Srihari Nataraj – 100m Freestyle, 50m,100m and 200m Backstroke

Women:

1. Chahat Arora – 50m, 100m and 200m Breaststroke

2. Jayaveena A V – 50m Breaststroke

3. Shivani Kataria – 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m Freestyle, 100m Butterfly

4. Rujuta Khade – 50m Freestyle

5. Jyotsna Pansare – 50m backstroke, 50m Butterfly

6. Maana Patel – 50m, 100m and 200m Backstroke

7. Divya Satija – 50m and 100m Butterfly

8. Soubrity Mondal – 100m and 200m Backstroke, 200m Individual Medley

Group I :

Boys:

1. Adhithya D – 100m Freestyle

2. Vedant Bapna – 50m, 100m and 200m Backstroke

3. Sanjay C J – 200m Freestyle

4. George Mathew Tanish – 50m, 100m and 200m Butterfly

5. Hiten S Mittal – 50m Freestyle

6. Swadesh Mondal – 50m, 100m and 200m Breaststroke, 200m and 400m Individual Medley

7. Aryan Panchal – 200m Butterfly

8. Harsh Saroha – 100m Butterfly

9. Akashdeep Singh – 100m and 200m Backstroke

10. Anurag Singh – 200m, 400m and 800m Freestyle

11. Aryan Varnekar – 50m Butterfly

12. Vikkas P – 50m Freestyle

13. Veer Khatkar –

Girls:

1. Suvana Bhaskar – 50m, 100m and 200m Backstroke

2. Jhanvi Choudhury –

3. Khushi Dinesh – 200m, 400m, 800m and 1500m Freestyle

4. Kenisha Gupta – 50m and 100m Freestyle, 50m, 100m and 200m Butterfly

5. Swarna Harith –

6. Shivangi Sharma – 50m, 100m, 200m and 400m Freestyle

Group II :

Boys:

1. Shoan Ganguly – 200m and 400m Freestyle, 100m and 200m Butterfly, 200m Individual Medley

2. Sahil Laskar – 50m and 100m Backstroke, 50m and 100m Butterfly

3. Vedant Madhavan – 50m, 100m and 200m Freestyle

4. Devansh Parmar – 400m Freestyle, 50m, 100m and 200m Backstroke

5. Utkarsh Patil – 200m Backstroke and 200m Butterfly

6. Vidith Sankar – 100m and 200m Breaststroke

7. Anshav Jindal –

Girls:

1. Apeksha Fernandes – 50m, 100m and 200m Breaststroke, 200m Butterfly and 200m Individual Medley

2. Bhavya Sachdeva – 100m, 200m and 400m Freestyle

3. Ridhima Veerendra Kumar – 50m, 100m and 200m Backstroke

4. Nina Venkatesh – 100m Freestyle, 50m, 100m and 200m Backstroke and 50m and 100m Butterfly.

Coaches:

1. Padamnabh Rao

2. Bhushan Kumar

3. Satish Suri

4. Dr. Mohan Reddy

OC:

1. Pradeep Kumar

2. Nihar Ameen

3. Jayarajan A C

Team Managers :

1. Tapan Kumar Panigrahi

2. Sarojini

DIVING

Men Senior:

1. K Ramananda Sharma

2. Siddarth Bajrang Pardeshi

Group I :

Boys :

1. Satish Kumar Prajapati

2. N Willson Singh

3. Joydeep Nayak

Girls :

1. Ashna Chevli

2. Bilwa Giram

Group II :

Boys:

1. Y Premson Meitei

Girls:

1. Megan De Almeida

Group III:

Boys:

1. Indiver Sairam

2. Kabir Rao

Girls:

1. Palak Sharma

Coaches:

1. M Kunj Kishor

2. Yoenis Salazar Despaigne

Manager:

1. Dara Chahal

WATER-POLO

Men:

1. Navneeth A(GK)

2. Abhinav A M

3. Anand M S

4. Siddarth S S

5. Vaishnav M

6. Rounik Saha

7. Soham Chaudhary

8. Jayatha Jana

9. Sounvik Dhali

10. Bhavvesh C

11. Vedant Kuthe

12. Raj Patil

13. Gulshan Kumar(GK)

14. Amrish S

15. Guruprasad Khaire(GK)

Women:

1. Devi Santosh(GK)

2. Kripa R R

3. Surabhi V S

4. Priya S P

5. Anjal Y Kishore

6. Mansi M

7. Jasmin Khatun

8. Pooja Das

9. Krisha P

10. Ria Das

11. Ashmitha P

12. Kanishka

13. Rasni Parvin(GK)

14. Rafiqa Parvin

15. Iksha K

Coaches:

1. Saibal Shaw

2. P Venugopala Pillai

3. Shourya Karandikar

4. P Alfred

Team Manager:

1. Harinder Singh

2. Biji Varghese