Asida: India wins swimming medal after 24 years by Virdhawal Khade

Guangzhou : Virdhawal Khade on Tuesday became he first Indian swimmer in 24 years to win an Asian Games medals by bagging the bronze in the 50m butterfly event here.

Khade, who topped the heats with a timing of 24.56sec, finished third in the finals with a timing of 24.31sec. China’s Jiawei Zhou clinched the gold by clocking 23.66sec, while Japan’s Masayuki Kishida settled for silver 24.13sec.

At the 1986 Seoul Asian Games, Khazan Singh had won the silver in the men’s freestyle event.

Khade’s timing, however, was not even his personal best which is 24.25sec that he achieved at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune in 2008.

Khade’s compatriot Anshul Kothari also won his heat with a timing of 26.08sec but it way behind the qualifying mark.

Other swimmers, however, continued to disappoint.Rehan Poncha and M.Badrinath finishing sixth and seventh in the men’s 100m backstroke event. In the men’s 4x100m freestyle relay, the Indian team of Aaron Agnel Dsouza, Arjun Jayaprakash, Anshul Kothari and Khade finished fourth in the heats with a timing of 3:29.71secs.

In men’s 400m freestyle, Divase Mandar ended seventh in his heats after clocking 4:08.22sec.

Khade said that he was desperate to win the medal after missing the medal in the freestyle event on Monday by a whisker.

“I was determined to win the medal. It feels great to win a swimming medal for India after 24,” said the 19-year-old.