The Hindu : Sport / Swimming : Virdhawal Khade and Sandeep Sejwal on a high

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Wednesday, May 07, 2008
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Virdhawal Khade and Sandeep Sejwal on a high

Special Correspondent

— Photo: K. Murali Kumar

DREAM COME TRUE: Indian swimmers Virdhawal Khade and Sandeep Sejwal along with coach Nihar Ameen at the KC Reddy swimming pool in Bangalore on Tuesday.

BANGALORE: “It was a highly satisfying meet and I am happy that I made the Olympic qualifying time in all the three freestyle events,” said Indian swimming sensation Virdhawal Khade, who returned home after his splendid show in the Malaysian Open swimming championship.

Khade also broke National marks in the 50m, 100m and 200m freestyle besides winning the golds and making the Olympic cut.

Gratifying

“It was all the more gratifying because I had missed out on the Australian Open Olympic trials with a knee injury. Getting back into action a few weeks later and doing my best has given me a lot of confidence and I hope to prove myself in the Beijing Olympics as well,” said Khade to The Hindu.

He was a bit surprised about his record-breaking effort in the 400m freestyle. “I am not a 400m swimmer, but I did train for it, but to just get in there and knock five seconds off the National record was indeed a pleasant surprise,” said Khade.

Relieved

Sandeep Sejwal, who too made the qualifying marks in the 100m and 200m breaststroke, was a much relieved swimmer. “It was hard after I failed to make the cut in the 100m breaststroke at the Panaji Nationals and I couldn’t make it at the Australian Olympic trials as I was under pressure, but I did well to get both the marks at Kuala Lumpur and I am quite relived about it and now I can focus on my training for the Olympics,” said Sejwal.

Prior to participating in the Malaysian Open, Khade, Sejwal and Shikha Tandon, all belonging to the KC Reddy Swim Centre here, trained in Canberra for three months. The Australian stint stood the Indian swimmers in good stead as the trio smashed nine National records in Malaysia.

In fact, coach Nihar Ameen attributed the Indian success at the Malaysian meet to training down under. “They were not just training but they also competed in several weekend meets which really helped them. The more you race, the better you perform is my philosophy and they have proved that right,” said Ameen.

The coach was also happy with Shikha Tandon’s performance in the meet.

“She narrowly missed the qualifying mark in the 50m freestyle and let us make no mistake about it, she is in great form and I am sure she will do it in the next meet in Singapore due in June,” said Ameen.

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