Indian Swimming Thread ...

[PKBasu]

Although I am in Hanoi today, my India Club colleagues and members had a nice interaction session with Virdhawal and Sandeep -- as well as with Anup Sridhar -- this evening. Two days ago, the two swimmers had met a similar group from the Indian Women's Association in Singapore.
Virdhawal won the 200m freestyle today, adding to his 50m title yesterday. So it proved to be a very fruitful competition for Virdhawal, although for both of them this competition interfered with the rhythm of their current training programs. Virdhawal is aiming to peak for the World Youth games in Mexico (and then Beijing a month later), and Sandeep is getting primed for the Olympics. They are both off to the US early tomorrow (Monday) morning.

[jaydeep]

Nice article written by Hakim in Deccan Chronicle, Bangalore.

Impossible to Possible - the story of Indian swimming

[suresh]

Thanks a lot for the link, Jaydeep. It is nice to read an article written by an ex-swimmer(Hakimuddin) on the state of swimming. It also puts in to perspective what our current crop of swimmers have achieved even though they may not be in the running for medals at Beijing. 

[jaydeep]

Virdhawal continued to impress with his improvement in timing ... As we all know he was training in US before ongoing 2nd FINA World Junior Swimming Championship, Monterrey 2008.

And check his immediate improvement in timing at World Junior Swimming Championship; he created national record in all events he participated until now.

In 4x100 Meter Freestyle Relay Indian team finished on 17th place but Virdhawal was minimum 2.5sec (max 4.5sec) faster than his other 3 team-mates ... Only 5 other swimmers swam faster than him ... He completed his 100m in new National Record of 50.64sec ... Previous record of 50.66sec he created in the 51st MILO/PRAM Malaysia Invitation Open at Kuala Lumpur in May 2008.

In 200 Meter Freestyle he created history becoming first Indian swimmer to reach final of World Junior Swimming Championship ... In heats his timing was 1:51.31sec, that was new National Record ... His previous record was 1:51.65sec previously created in the 51st MILO/PRAM Malaysia Invitation Open at Kuala Lumpur in May 2008 ... But in the final he improved his timing almost by a second to create new National Record of 1:50.35sec to finished on respectable 6th position.

In 50 Meter Freestyle, nobody reached near of Sebastian Xavier's 22.89 sec national record in last 10 yrs which he created at 1998 Bangalore nationals ... Only Ankur Poseria managed to dip under 23 secs mark with 22.99sec which he clocked at the 2008 Post NCAA Men's Long Course Invitational ... But Virdhawal had different plan altogether ...

In heats he clocked 23.54sec, well below his personal best 23.03sec, to qualify for semis ... And in semis he created history breaking Sebastian Xavier's 10 yrs old record, he clocked 22.69sec to better Xavier's record by 0.2sec ... I think this is phenomenal feat to improve own timing by 0.34sec in 2 months time in 50m event … With that he qualified for his second final at World Junior Swimming Championship and his timing is 2nd best in the final 8 swimmers ... It would be icing on the cake if Virdhawal manages to win medal in this event.

Go Virdhawal ...

Jaydeep

[kujo]

thanks for the update. Does anyone know whether Virdhawal uses the new Speedo swimsuits?  Is he breaking the records because of that or does he have more potential to improve his timings once he switches over to Speedo?

[sameerph]

Excellent performance by Virdhwawal .

Thanks Jaydeep for the update.

[suresh]

Wow, what a fantastic show from Virdhawal 

[gbelday]

Amazing guy. Keep it going.  I just hope he replicates this performance while competing in a senior meet. Imagine him swimming next to Michael Phelps some day!!

[jaydeep]

Another interesting to note, his 22.69sec in 50m freestyle is equal to 2008 best time by Asian (if I m not mistaken) ... Japan's Masayuki Kishida clocked same 22.69sec at the Japanese national swimming championships.

Jaydeep

[sameerph]

In the world youth swimming championship finals, Veerdhawal could not produce the same form but clocked another sub-23 timimg , 22.95 to finish 5th. If he had clocked the same timimg as SF , he would have got the bronze. But, still very good performace by Veerdhawal in the runup to the olympics.

[shashi]

Can someone thorw light on the age of the swimmers competing in this event and particularly the winners ? Khade is listed as 16 years old and his achievement seems to be remarkable.

[jaydeep]

Yes Sameer, his semis performance could grabbed bronze ... But creditable performance.

But in 50 Meter Butterfly, surprisingly Virdhawal's challenge got over in the heats .. He clocked 25.83sec which was well below his personal best 24.91sec.

[jaydeep]

Can someone thorw light on the age of the swimmers competing in this event and particularly the winners ? Khade is listed as 16 years old and his achievement seems to be remarkable.

Swimmer Eligibility FINA World Youth Swimming Championships
GIRLS -  14-17  years  on  31st  December  2008
(born in 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994)

BOYS - 15-18  years  on  31st  December  2008
(born in 1990, 1991, 1992 and 1993)

In 200 Meter Freestyle, Virdhawal finished on 6th position, 3 of 5 swimmers who finished before him were 1 yr older than him.

Kujo, Virdhawal uses Speedo LZR swimsuit ... It improves swimmer timing by 0.03/ 0.04 sec.

Jaydeep

[arjun2761]

In the world youth swimming championship finals, Veerdhawal could not produce the same form but clocked another sub-23 timimg , 22.95 to finish 5th. If he had clocked the same timimg as SF , he would have got the bronze. But, still very good performace by Veerdhawal in the runup to the olympics.

Very creditable performance by Virdhawal to excel at this level.  I have some personal experience of how poor our swimming standards were in the 80s, so this performance is really unbelievable (the only comparable would be the Indian football team making the WC).

In the finals, Virdhawal had the poorest reaction time -- a better start would have put him very close to a medal (I wonder if he had a false start charged to him?).

[kujo]

Kujo, Virdhawal uses Speedo LZR swimsuit ... It improves swimmer timing by 0.03/ 0.04 sec.

Jaydeep

so that would be the expected improvement every lap (50 metres) right?