Indians @ 2008 Telstra Australian Swimming Championships – Day 6, 7and 8

The results of the Indian swimmers on Day 6:

50m Breaststroke Prelims and Semi-finals: Sandeep Sejwal clocked a time of 29.91 to finish joint 12th in the Prelims.
Later in the evening Sandeep clocked 30.48 to finish 15th in the Semifinals.
Sandeep’s best time is 29.36 (National record).

Men’s 50m Freestyle Semi-Finals (Eamon Sullivan breaks the World record):


Women’s 100m Freestyle Finals (Lisbeth Trickett breaks the World record):



The results of the Indian swimmers on Day 7:

Women’s 50m Freestyle Prelims: Shikha Tandon clocked a time of 26.87 to finish 23rd.
Shikha holds the National record with a time of 26.50 set in 2003.
The Olympic qualifying time is 26.32

1500m Freestyle Prelims: Mandar Divase clocked a time of 16:18.09 to finish 17th. Rohit Havaldar clocked a time of 16:38.23 to finish 19th.
Mandar holds the National record with a time of 16:17.58.
The Olympic qualifying time is 15:45.12.

Men’s 50m Freestyle Finals (Eamon Sullivan breaks the World record):



The Indian team's bid to get a few more berths at the Beijing Olympic Games ended unsuccessfully today. The only bright spark was Shikha’s National record in the 100m Freestyle. The fact that all non-Australian swimmers were allowed to swim only in the morning prelims, in Olympic events, made it that much more tougher for the Indians to get the elusive qualifying time.

It was unfortunate that Virdhawal Khade, who was in great form in lead up to these championships, could not participate due to an injury. He is back in the water and is expected to race at the Australian Age-group Championships from April 9-13 at Brisbane. It was a year back, almost to the day, when Virdhawal swam an amazing 200m Freestyle at the 2007 Melbourne World Swimming Championships to qualify for the Beijing Olympic Games.

The swimmers will now head back to their respective training bases in preparation for the next Olympic qualifying meet.


Day 8:

Women's 50m Freestyle Finals (Lisbeth Trickett breaks the World record):

Indians @ 2008 Telstra Australian Swimming Championships – Day 5

The results of the Indian swimmers on Day 5:

100m Freestyle Prelims (Women): Shikha Tandon clocked 58.09 to finish 34^th. This is Shikha’s personal best time and is also a new National record. Shikha previous best was 58.32 which she clocked in 2003.
The Olympic qualifying time is 57.17.

200m Individual Medley Prelims: Rehan Poncha clocked 2:10.29 to finish 22^nd.
Rehan holds the National record with a time of 2:08.80.
The Olympic qualifying time is 2:05.65.

800m Freestyle Prelims: Mandar Divase clocked a time of 8:44.44.
The National record is in the name of Aaron D’souza with a time of 8:33.37.

Men's 100m Freestyle finals:

Indians @ 2008 Telstra Australian Swimming Championships – Day 2, 3 and 4

The results of the Indian swimmers on Day 2:

200m Freestyle Prelims: Rohit Havaldar clocked 1:59.95 to finish 60^th. Mandar Divase clocked 2:03.61 to finish 63^rd.
The National record is in the name of Virdhawal Khade with a time of 1:52.41.
The Olympic qualifying time is 1:52.53.

100m Backstroke Prelims: Rehan Poncha clocked 1:00.85 to finish 43^rd.
The National record is in the name of Rana Joy Punja with a time of 58.2 set in 1988.
The Olympic qualifying time is 57.7.

Women's 50m Backstroke finals (Sophie Edington breaks the World Record):

The results of the Indian swimmers on Day 3:

200m Butterfly Prelims: Rehan Poncha clocked 2:03.73 to finish 11^th. This is Rehan’s personal best time.
The National record is in the name of Khazan Singh Tokas with a time of 2:02.38 set in 1986.
The Olympic qualifying time is 2:01.79.

Men's 200m Freestyle finals:

The results of the Indian swimmers on Day 4:

200m Breaststroke Prelims: Sandeep Sejwal clocked 2:21.40 to finish 8^th.
Sandeep holds the National record with a time of 2:19.51.
The Olympic qualifying time is 2:18.37.

Women's 200m IM finals (Stephanie Rice breaks the World Record):

Note:
As per the rules, only swimmers eligible to represent Australia will compete in the semi-final or final of an Australian championship event which is a selection trials for the Olympic Games, World Championships, Commonwealth Games or Pan Pacific Championships. Hence the Indian swimmers are allowed to swim only in the morning prelims.

Indians @ 2008 Telstra Australian Swimming Championships – Day 1

The results of the Indian swimmers on Day 1:

400m IM Prelims: Rehan Poncha clocked 4:34.29 to finish 10^th. Rehan’s best time is 4:33.59 (National Record).
The Olympic qualifying time is 4:27.44.

400m Freestyle Prelims: Rohit Havaldar clocked 4:12.52 to finish 31^st. His best time is 4:05.98.
Mandar Divase clocked 4:14.21 to finish 32^nd.
The National Record is in the name of Rehan Poncha with a time of 4:04.49.
The Olympic qualifying time is 3:58.10.

100m Breaststroke Prelims: Sandeep Sejwal clocked 1:05.49 to finish 11^th. Sandeep’s best time is 1:04.36 (National Record).
The Olympic qualifying is time is 1:03.72.

Note:
As per the rules, only swimmers eligible to represent Australia will compete in the semi-final or final of an Australian championship event which is a selection trials for the Olympic Games, World Championships, Commonwealth Games or Pan Pacific Championships. Hence the Indian swimmers are allowed to swim only in the morning prelims.

Women's 400m IM finals (Stephanie Rice breaks the World Record):


Women's 50m Backstroke semi-finals (Emily Seebohm breaks the World Record):

Indians @ 2008 Telstra Australian Swimming Championships

The 2008 Telstra Australian Swimming Championships is being held at the Sydney Olympic Park Aquatic Center from 22-29^th March. The Australian team for the Beijing Olympic Games will be chosen here.

This meet will also feature the following top Indian swimmers who are vying to make the Indian Olympic team:

Sandeep Sejwal – 50, 100 and 200m Breaststroke.
Rehan Poncha – 100m Backstroke, 200m Butterfly, 200 and 400m IM
Mandar Divase – 200, 400, 800 and 1500m Freestyle
Rohit Havaldar – 200, 400 and 1500m Freestyle
Shikha Tandon – 50 and 100m Freestyle

Virdhawal Khade, who has already qualified for the Beijing Olympic Games, suffered a minor injury during training earlier this week putting his participation in doubt.

As per the rules, only swimmers eligible to represent Australia will compete in the semi-final or final of an Australian championship event which is a selection trials for the Olympic Games, World Championships, Commonwealth Games or Pan Pacific Championships. Hence the Indian swimmers will be allowed to swim only in the morning heats; this would mean that they will get only one chance in each of their events under non-ideal conditions

Check this earlier post ‘Ladder to Beijing’ to see where things currently stand.

Click here to see the Program of events.
Click here to see the results.
Click here to see the start list.

Indians @ 2008 Zoggs Queensland Sprint Championships

Over the weekend an Indian contingent consisting of Virdhawal Khade (Veer), Sandeep Sejwal and Shikha Tandon - who are currently in Australia on a three month training stint - took part in their first competition in Australia - 2008 Zoggs Queensland Sprint Championships in Brisbane (9/Feb/2008 to 10/Feb/2008). This meet consisted of only 50m events of all the strokes for the following age-groups:
9yrs, 10yrs, 11yrs, 12yrs, 13yrs, 14yrs, 15yrs, 16yrs, 17/18yrs & Open

This is one of the many preparatory weekend meets they be swimming in lead up to the two Olympic qualifying meets - 2008 Telstra Australian Swimming Championships (at Sydney in the end of March; this meet is also the Australian Olympic trials) and 2008 Telstra Grand Prix 1 (at Canberra in the end of April)

On Day 1, Veer and Sandeep won a gold medal each in the 50m Butterfly (16yrs) and 50m Breaststroke (Open) with a time of 25.75sec and 30.16sec respectively. Shikha finished 11th in the 50m Backstroke semi-final with a time 32.68sec.

On Day 2, Veer continued to show good form winning two bronze medals. This is taking into consideration that he had to race eight times (as each Open event had Prelims, Semi-finals and Finals and Age-group event had Prelims and Finals).

Veer's first bronze medal came in the 50m Butterfly (Open) with a time of 25.83 and his second bronze medal came in the 50m Freestyle (16yrs) with a time of 24.08. Veer finished 5th in finals of the 50m Freestyle (Open).

Shikha finished 4th in finals of the 50m Freestyle (Open) with a time of 27.30sec and 13th in the semi-final of the 50m Butterfly (Open) with a time of 30.71sec.

Note: The times are not indicative of their current standards as Veer, Sandeep and Shikha are in the middle of high volume endurance training and they did not rest for this meet.

Click here for the full results.

Click here for the photos.

Senate Royal 4th National Masters Aquatic Championships - 2007

The National Masters meet turned out to be as I had hoped for, full of fun and good experiences. The swimming events of the National Masters Aquatic Championships were held at the Andheri Sports complex and were very well organized by the Greater Mumbai Amateur Aquatic Association (GMAAA). Considering that there were 650 swimmers from all over the country participating, the organizers did a great job of ensuring that the events were conducted smoothly.

It was quite a nostalgic experience for me as it was at the same pool that I swam my last Senior Nationals in December 1999 winning the National title in the 100 and 200m Freestyle. It felt great coming back to the same venue after 8 years to swim another National in a different league and reclaiming the 100 and 200m Freestyle. I finished this meet with three individual gold medals – 100, 200 and 400m Freestyle – and one gold and one silver medal in the 4*50 Freestyle and Medley relays respectively.

This meet dwarfed ex-professional swimmers like me and highlighted the human triumphs in the sport that we often miss in the more competitive professional circuit. In many ways, the Masters Age-group meet is exactly the opposite when compared with the regular age group. I have listed a few:

• In the latter, the parents cheer and pamper their kids while in the former the kids, and a few grand kids, were seen cheering and pampering their parents and grandparents.
• In the latter the times get faster as we go up the age groups while in the former the times get slower.
• In the latter the priority is winning first and fun next while in the former it is fun first and winning next.

Mr. Krishnamurthy, the Nonagenarian (90yrs+) from Karnataka, was one of the stars who stood as a shining example that one is never be too old to compete. Taranath Shenoy, one of the legends of long distance swimming who is visually challenged and has been awarded the prestigious Padmashree, was another star who displayed his swimming prowess by creating multiple records. As a kid, I had heard a lot about Taranath Shenoy and it was my pleasure meeting him and having the honor of awarding him a medal for one of his events. Taranath was among a handful of physically challenged swimmers who participated shoulder to shoulder with the able bodied and showed that they were a force to be reckoned with.

Overall it was fantastic experience and I look forward to the next Masters Nationals. For those who swam faster than the FINA World Masters qualifying time, and can afford to fund their own trip, the next stop is the FINA World Masters at Perth (Australia) in April this year (Check earlier blog post for the handbook on the World Masters).

Click here for the results of the individual events.