The Hindu : Austin takes gold in 800m freestyle

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Oct 28, 2003

Sport

Sport - Afro-Asian Games

Austin takes gold in 800m freestyle

By Our Sports Reporter

HYDERABAD OCT. 27. Shrone Austin of Seychelles splashed to glory in the 800m freestyle women's race with a timing of 9:16.46 in the Afro-Asian Games swimming competition being held at the Swarnandhra Pradesh Sports Complex pool at Gachibowli here today.

Austin, winner of three silver and a bronze medal in the recent All-African Games in Abuja, left the others behind once she entered the last lap. "I scented victory just before the last lap and decided to go all out," she remarked later.

A moving sight at the pool was the beaming face of Natalie Dutoit, who has by now become the most familiar face here. This one-legged South African swimmer, whose left leg had to be amputated after a car accident two years ago, was making a desperate attempt to make a mark here. And she came out with flying colours to pick the silver with a timing of 9:17.92 followed by her compatriot Velia Janse Van (9:19.74).

"It is really exciting to win the medal. I should have swam faster but still I am happy with my final show," was her comment. Dutoit had been the gold medallist in this race in the All-African Games with a timing of 9:09.00.

For the host, it was a dismal day as only two bronze medals in the 4x100m freestyle relay races for men and women. The rest of the Indians were mere participants and could not make any big impression.

Algerian Mahrez Mubarek stole the show in the men's 400m freestyle with a timing of 4:07.66 with South Africans Nicholas Rupert Wilson and Charlton Lee Lawson taking the silver and bronze respectively. India's Mandar Anand Divase finished fourth with a timing of 4:20.53.

Quite interestingly, the focus was also on the Pakistani women swimmers who surprised everyone by their pretty modern outlook.

The results:

200m individual medley: Men: 1. Ouying Kunpeng (China) 2:06.65, 2. Yohei Kato (Japan) 2:07.31, 3. Sofiane Daid (Algeria) 2:08.23. Women: 1. Lee Sun (Korea) 2:25.03, 2. Faiza Sabria Dahane (Algeria) 2:25.83, 3. Luisa Gavazzi (Zimbabwe) 2:28.69.

400m freestyle: Men: 1. Mahrez Mebarek (Algeria) 4:07.66, 2. Nicholas Rupert Wilson (South Africa) 4:09.56, 3. Charlton Lee Lawson (South Africa) 4:14.58.

4x100m relay freestyle: Men: 1. Japan (Wakabayashi Mizuki, Imamura Genki, Kojima Takamitsu, Nagura Naoki) 3:46.45, 2. Africa (Mahrez Mebarek, Sofiane Daid, Slimani Aghiles & Nabil Kebab) 3:56.71, 3. India (T.K. Senthil Kumar, Gairik Bardhan, K. Rajeev, Benoy Sebastian) 4:07.89. Women: 1. Korea (Cho A Ra, Park Kyung Hwa, Shin Bo Mi, Kim Mi Ryung) 4:00.07, 2. Africa (Christine Zwiegers, Sabria Dahane, Jakie Wellman, Ellen Hight) 4:04.43, 3. India (Shika Tandon, Lisa Mahanta, V. Remya and Ambica Iyengar) 4:16.55.

800 m freestyle: Women: 1. Shrone Austin (Seychelles) 9:16.46, 2. Natalie Dutoit (South Africa) 9:17.92, 3. Velia Janse Van (South Africa) 9:19.74.

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