Kushagra's gold quest continues

Virdhawal Khade added a gold to his collection even as Kushagra Rawat continued his gold spree as the hosts increased their medal tally to 28 in the 10th Asian Age Group Swimming Championship here at the Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence on Wednesday.

On the second day of the event, Khade touched the pad in 22:59 seconds, 400th of a second ahead of Khurshidjon Tursunov of Uzbekistan in the 50m freestyle event to claim gold.

However, Khade, who is on an Olympics quest, failed to improve on his time of 22:44 set at the senior nationals in Bhopal three weeks ago.

"I think I should have done way better today," said a disappointed Khade. "I got too excited and tried to power through too much. I think the first 20m was good. Got the start I had trained for and then messed it up. I ruined my technique because of over excitement."

However, the Maharashtra swimmer said he was excited to race against Srihari Nataraj in the 100m freestyle event on Thursday.

"I feel, we can expect two medals in the event – Srihari and I. I have never raced him before so it will be fun," said the 28-year-old.

Kushagra, meanwhile, clinched his third gold of the event as he stopped the clock at 15:41.54 in the 1500m freestyle event ahead of Chang Cheng Li Wei (15:49.85) of Chinese Taipie and Kittiya Tanakrit (16:19.75) of Thailand.

Among other winners in the open category, S Siva (4:32.11) bagged a silver in the 400m individual medley while Likith SP (28.38) took home bronze in the 50m breaststroke. Sajan Prakash (54.42) finished second in the 100m butterfly while Shivani Kataria (17:58.16) also came second in 1500m freestyle.

Thailand's Srisa Ard Jenjira set two new meet records with a swim of 32.12 in the 50m breaststroke and followed that up with a blistering record time of 26.16 in the 50m freestyle.

In the age group event, Shoan Ganguly clinched his fourth medal of the competition with a silver in the 400m freestyle.

The Goa swimmer, who won a gold and two silvers on Tuesday and finished fourth in 200m butterfly, was happy with his performance.

"The racing and the field was fantastic. This is my first Asian meet. I just wanted to give my best time. I did my personal best time in all events. It was good, not as hard as expected," said the 8th standard student who hold multiple records in India across age groups.

Tanish George and Utkarsh Patil also took silver in the 100m butterfly (Group I) and 200m butterfly (Group II) respectively.

Results (morning session): Open: Men: 50m freestyle: Virdhawal Khade (Ind) 22.59, 1; Khurshidjon Tursunov (Uzb) 22.96, 2; Gharehhassanloo Benyamin (Irn) 23.23, 3.

1500m freestyle: Kushagra Rawat (Ind) 15:41.54, 1; Chang Cheng Li Wei (Tpe) 15:49.85, 2; Kittiya Tanakrit (Tha) 16:19.75, 3.

50m breaststroke: Vladislav Mustafin (Uzb) 27.68, 1; Denis Petrashov (Kyr) 28.35, 2; Likith Selvaraj (Ind) 28.38, 3.

100m butterfly: Wongcharoen Navaphat (Tha) 54.06, 1; Sajan Prakash (Ind) 54.42, 2; Mhah Qali Bbas (Kuw) 55.10, 3.

400m medley: Klzie Ayman (Syr) 4:30.22, 1; S Siva (Ind) 4:32.11, 2; Ketin Nuttapong (Tha) 4:37.11, 3.

Women: 50m freestyle: Srisa Ard Jenjira (Tha) 26.16 (NMR, OR: Yang Xialoin 26.29, 2015), 1; Khader Baqlah Talita Bishara (Jor) 26.37, 2; Junkrajang Natthanan (Tha) 26.51, 3.

1500m freestyle: Junkrajang Natthanan (Tha) 17:39.93, 1; Shivani Kataria (Ind) 17:58.16, 2; Teeka Katawan (Tha) 18:00.86, 3.

50m breaststroke: Srisa Ard Jenjira (Tha) 32.12, (NMR, OR: Yekaterina Sadovnik, 32.46, 2009) 1, Vu Thi Phuong Anh (Vie) 33.04, 2; Boonamphai Saovanee (Tha) 33.24, 3.

100m butterfly: Kittiya Patarawadee (Tha) 1:02.53, 1; Sounthornchote Suspasuta (Tha) 1:02.57, 2; Liu Pei Ting (Tpe) 1:02.94, 3.

400m individual medley: Pawapotako Phiangkhwan (Tha) 5:04.97, 1; Wong Ching Lam Athena (HK) 5:08.97, 2; Nimdam Kanitta (Tha) 5:12.79, 3.

4x100m mixed medley relay: Thailand 3:39.17, 1; Uzbekistan 3:41.73, 2; India 3:42.56, 3.

Other Indian medallists: Group I: Boys: 100m butterfly: Tanish George (Ind) 55.98, 2.

Group II: Boys: 400m freestyle: Shoan Ganguly (Ind) 4:07.21, 2.

200m butterfly: Utkarsh Patil (Ind) 2:09.82, 2.