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.