The Best of the rest of 2009

Virdhawal Khade and Sandeep Sejwal continued their good showing at various international competitions to keep Indian Swimming on the world map.

In the year end top-150 World Rankings (swimnews.com) they featured in:

Sandeep Sejwal

- No. 60 in the 50m Breaststroke with a time of 27.84sec clocked at the Asian Age-Group in August

- No. 60 in the 200m Breaststroke with a time of 2:12.02sec clocked at the Asian Age-Group in August

- No. 67 in the 100m Breaststroke with a time of 1:00.97sec clocked at the Asian Age-Group in August

Virdhawal Khade

- No. 103 in the 100m Butterfly with a time of 52.77sec clocked at the Asian Age-Group in August

- No. 112 in the 50m Freestyle with a time of 22.55 sec clocked at the Asian Age-Group in August

- No. 118 in the 50m Butterfly with a time of 24.14sec clocked at the Asian Swimming Championships in November

- No. 148 in the 100m Freestyle with a time of 49.66sec clocked at the Asian Age-Group in August

After the 2009 World Championships in Rome, the Asian Age-group Swimming Championships in Tokyo and the Asian Swimming Championships in Foshan, China gave a glimpse of what could be expected from Indian Swimmers in 2010.

At the Asian Age-group Swimming Championships in Japan the Indian swimmers reaped a rich haul of 24 medals (8 Gold, 8 Silver and 8 Bronze medals). Virdhawal Khade again leading the pack with 4 Gold and 1 Silver in the individual events.

At the Asian Swimming Championships in Foshan (China) India had its highest ever medal haul of 7 medals. Virdhawal Khade led the way with 1 Silver (100m Freestyle) and 2 Bronze medals (50m Butterfly and 50m Freestyle). Sandeep Sejwal collected 2 Bronze medals (100m and 200m Breaststroke), Aaron D'souza won a Bronze (200m Freestyle) and the 4*100m Men's Medley Relay team won Bronze. The other highlight was Mandar Divase breaking the 16min barrier in the 1500m Freestyle clocking a time of 15min 56.96sec finishing 4th.

This was also the last of the flashy full-body swimsuits, esp. for men, that hogged more of the limelight more than the swimmers for the better part of 2008 and 2009 and following the global trend many National Records were rewritten.

Back with a Splash ...

After a hiatus of close to two years, Indian Swimming is back with a splash. During the next few days I shall do my best to capture the highlights of Indian swimming until now.

Going forward I hope to be more regular in keeping everyone updated on how Indian swimming continues to progress and becomes a force to reckon with.

Cheers

Sejwal and Khade Enter 2009 World Rankings

GoSports Press release on July 20th 2009

Star Swimming Duo enter Top 150

Bangalore July 20, 2009 - Following a stellar performance at the International Schwimmfest in Darmstadt, Germany - the talented swimming duo of Virdhawal Khade and Sandeep Sejwal have made their official entry into the 2009 World Rankings (top 150). Khade is currently World No. 107 in the 50m Butterfly event (in which he won a Gold medal in Germany) and Sejwal is World No. 142 in the 50m Breast-stroke (in which he won a Silver and broke his own National record in Germany). The official entry into the rankings will embolden the young swimmers as they take on the best in the world at the FINA World Swimming Championships in Rome next week. -END-

FINA information regarding the 2010 Youth Olympic Games

The first Youth Olympic Games is scheduled to be held in Singapore between August 14-26, 2010. Young athletes - between 14 and 18 years of age - will compete in 26 sports.

The qualification information for swimming as published on the FINA website on 19th June 2009 can be obtained here.

Click here for the official website.

This will be a great platform for India's young talent to make a mark on the world stage.

Indian swimmers @ the Asian Youth Games, Singapore

Arhatha Magavi and Aaron D'souza with their medals

The Indian swimmers made their mark at the 1st Asian Youth Games held at the Singapore 2-6 July 2009. The swimmers had to be 17 years and below to be eligible for this meet (i.e. they should have been born on or after January 1st 1992).

17-year-old Aaron D'Souza was the star among the boys. He won one gold - 200m Freestyle (1:52.22sec) - and one bronze medal - 100m Freestyle (51:52sec).

Arhatha Magavi was the star among the girls. She won a silver in the 200m Butterfly (2:18.86sec). The 15-year-old from Bangalore showed that she has what it takes and with age on her side we are sure to see new standards set by her.

Both the swimmers train at the Basavangudi Aquatic Center, Bangalore under National Coach Pradeep Kumar.

Click here for all the official results.

For the consolidated results on Wikipedia click here.

Indian Junior National Swimming Championships 2009

The 2009 edition of the Junior National Swimming Championships was held in Jaipur, Rajasthan from 23-27 June 2009.

The best swimmers were:
Boys
Group I (15-17yrs) - Gagan A.P. (Karnataka)
Group II (13-14yrs) - Shaun D'Souza (Karnataka)

Girls
Group I (15-17yrs) - Talasha Prabhu (Goa)
Group II (13-14yrs) - Sneha T. (Karnataka)

Note: Many of the top junior swimmers did not participate as they were either training for the Rome World Championships or the Asian Youth Games at Singapore.

Click here for all the results.(courtesy PDAAA)

Indian swimmers preparation for the World Championships

There were a few Indian swimmers that were competing at various international competitions to help them fine tune for the 2009 Rome World Championships.

Mare Nostrum – Barcelona 6-7 June 2009

The Mare Nostrum series attracts some of the world’s best swimmers and Virdhawal Khade, Sandeep Sejwal and J. Agnishwar participated in this meet.

Highlights:

Virdhawal Khade’s best finish was 17^th in the 50m Butterfly.

Sandeep Sejwal’s best finish was 13^th in the 100m Breaststroke. He made the B-finals in two events – 100 and 200m Breaststroke.

J. Agnishwar’s best finish was 30^th in the 50m Breaststroke.

Click here for all the results.

Rehan Poncha with his medals at the Singapore Nationals

5th Singapore National Swimming Championships – 10-14 June 2009

Rehan Poncha was the lone Indian representative at this meet. Rehan finished the meet with one gold, two silver and one bronze medal.

Highlights:

400m Freestyle – Gold (Personal Best time)

200m Butterfly – Silver

200m IM – Silver

400m IM – Bronze

Click here for all the results.

Nihar Ameen, J. Agnishwar, Sandeep Sejwal and Virdhawal Khade at Paris

3^rd Open EDF de Natation – Paris 19-21 June 2009

This is also called the French Open of swimming. With the French becoming a dominant force in world swimming this meet attracted some of the top swimmers from around the world. Virdhawal Khade, Sandeep Sejwal and J. Agnishwar participated in the meet.

Highlights:

Virdhawal Khade’s best finish was 12^th in the 100m Butterfly.

Sandeep Sejwal’s best finish was 6^th in the 200m Breaststroke. He also made it to the finals of the 100m Breaststroke where he finished 7^th. Sandeep broke the National record in the 50m Breaststroke clocking a time of 28.77sec. The previous record of 29.08sec was created by him at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

J. Agnishwar’s best finish was 13^th in the 200m IM.

Click here for all the results.

Internationales Schwimmfest – Darmstadt (Germany) (50m) 10-12 July 2009

Virdhawal Khade, Sandeep Sejwal and J. Agnishwar participated in the meet. This was the last meet before the World Championships and hence they participated in limited events just to keep the momentum of racing.

Highlights:

Virdhawal Khade won a gold medal in the 50m Freestyle clocking a meet record time of 22.96sec. He also went on to win a silver medal in the 50m Butterfly clocking a time of 24.28sec.

Sandeep Sejwal won a silver medal in the 50m Breaststroke. He once again broke the National record clocking a time of 28.65sec.

J. Agnishwar’s best finish was 5^th in the 200m IM.

Click here for the results of the Indian swimmers.