Olympians Virdhawal Khade, Sajan Prakash, Srihari Nataraj and Maana Patel besides Aryan Nehra and Linyesha AK, the top swimmers in the recent National Championship have been included in a 23-member aquatics squad for the upcoming Asian Games to be held in Hangzhou from September 23 to October 8.
For the first time since the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, women swimmers have qualified for the Asian Games and have been included in the squad.
The Swimming Federation of India (SFI) on Saturday officially announced a strong 23-member contingent in the aquatic disciplines (swimming & diving) for the forthcoming 19th Asian Games.
The SFI Selection Committee met on July 6 following the successful completion of the 76th Senior National Aquatic Championships, which was also a qualification meet for the Asian Games, in Hyderabad this week.
Highlighting the selection of nine women named in the swim team, an elated Monal Chokshi, Secretary General of SFI said, “We are delighted to name a strong 23-member team for the aquatic disciplines for the 19th Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. In the previous edition at Jakarta, India was represented by 11 swimmers. This time, not only has the number of qualifications risen but we are also very happy that nine women swimmers have achieved the qualification time to participate in relay events.”
“It is also very encouraging to note that, these young women swimmers are aged between 14-19 years and have performed exceedingly well in the recently concluded championship. A majority of the new national records at this event were clocked by these swimmers. This goes to show that Indian swimming is headed in the right direction,” Chokshi was quoted as saying in a release on Saturday.
The 23-member team comprises 12 male swimmers including the latest long-distance sensation Aryan Nehra of Gujarat who rewrote four national records (in 400m medley, 400m, 800m and 1500m freestyle) at the recent nationals. He will be joined by butterfly ace Sajan Prakash and backstroker Srihari Nataraj, both of whom created history in 2021 by becoming the first-ever Indian swimmers to make the ‘A’ qualification cut for the Tokyo Olympic Games.
The team list also includes Delhi’s talented long-distance swimmer Kushagra Rawat and Vishal Grewal, Madhya Pradesh’s Advait Page and Maharashtra’s Virdhawal Khade who made the cut in the 50m butterfly event.
Interestingly, this will be Khade’s sixth appearance at the prestigious Asian Games. He won India a bronze medal in the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China in 2010. Also making it to the SFI’s list are Karnataka’s Aneesh S. Gowda, Likith S.P., Tanish George Mathew, Utkarsh Santosh Patil and Services’ Anand A.S.
In the women’s category, Gujarat’s backstroke sensation and Olympian Maana Patel, Maharashtra’s Anannya Nayak and Palak Joshi, Telangana’s Vritti Agarwal, Railways’ Shivangi Sharma and Karnataka’s Dinidhi Desinghu, Hashika Ramchandran, Linyesha A.K. and Nina Venkatesh have been selected. The last time a woman represented India in swimming was at the Doha Asian Games in 2006 where Olympian Shikha Tandon had made the cut in 50m freestyle.
Also part of the 23-member team are Siddharth Bajrang Pardeshi and Heman London Singh who will represent India in diving events. SFI has also proposed a 13-member water polo squad in their final list to Indian Olympic Association (IOA).
Elaborating on the selection process, Chokshi said, “Apart from the recent Senior National Aquatic Championships, swimmers have taken part in sanctioned qualifying meets abroad. Swimming Federation of India published the qualification guidelines in January 2023, and we are happy that a large number of swimmers have made the qualification cut in their individual event and/or relay events respectively.”
The Indian squad:
Swimming (men): Aneesh S. Gowda, Advait Page, Aryan Nehra, Anand A.S., Kushagra Rawat, Likith S.P., Sajan Prakash, Srihari Nataraj, Tanish George Mathew, Utkarsh Santosh Patil, Vishal Grewal and Virdhawal Khade.
Swimming (women): Anannya Nayak, Dinidhi Desinghu, Hashika Ramchandran, Linyesha A.K., Maana Patel, Nina Venkatesh, Palak Joshi, Shivangi Sarma, Vritti Agarwal.
Diving: Siddharth Bajrang Pardeshi and Heman London Singh.
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