Asian Age Group Championships: Kushagra Rawat clinches fourth gold

Kushagra Rawat continued to impress as he won his fourth gold medal at the 10th Asian Age Group Championship held at the Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence in Bengaluru on Thursday.

Swimming the 400m freestyle for open category men, Kushagra clocked a time of 3:55.81 seconds finishing ahead of Chang Cheng Li Wei (3:56.82) of Chinese Taipei who won silver and Abbas Omar (4:01.52) of Syria who won bronze. The elated 19-year-old from New Delhi after winning the race said:

The Championships has been good for me so far. I am swimming the 4x200m freestyle relay tomorrow (Friday), and I’m confident the Indian team will win the race, and I will get my fifth gold medal. I’m happy with my timing though I feel I could have done better in 400m and 800m freestyle. I was stuck at the 3:56 seconds mark for six months and I’m happy that I have broken it.

Kushagra’s idol, Sajan Prakash also made it to the top of the podium in the 200metres butterfly with a time of 2:00.38 seconds. He was followed by Wongcharoen Navaphat (2:01.16) of Thailand and Klzie Ayman (2:02.38) of Syria.

Srihari Nataraj enthralled the home crowd with his sensational sprint in the 100m backstroke for open category men. He created a new meet record clocking 55.06 while Atayev Merdan (55.28) from Turkmenistan settled for silver and Lau Shiu Yue (57.56) of Hong Kong won the bronze.

In the most exciting race of the day, Indian duo Virdhawal Khade and Srihari were edged out by Khurshidjon Tursunov of Uzbekistan who clocked 50.56 seconds to win the gold. Khade was close behind with a time of 50.68 while Srihari timed 50.91 seconds.      

Earlier in the day, the Indian men's 4x100m medley relay team comprising Srihari Nataraj, Sajan Prakash, Likith SP and Virdhawal Khade clocked a total time of 3:46.49 seconds to beat Thailand (3:48.89) and Hong Kong (3:53.99) respectively to win India's ninth gold medal. 

India lived up to the challenge posed by Thailand and Hong Kong as they got off to a flying start thanks to Srihari Nataraj (56.55) giving an ideal lead in backstroke as he finished ahead of Hong Kong's Lau Shiu Yue (57.72) and Thailand's Kasipat Chograthin (58.41). Sajan Prakash diving in next for the butterfly dash kept up India's lead with a time of 54.50 seconds while Thailand's Navaphat Wongcharoen clocked 54.50 seconds and Hong Kong's Cheung Yau Ming (56.60).

Likith SP, swimming breaststroke, was excellent as he extended the lead clocking fastest time of 1:02.47 while Thailand's Nuttapong Ketin timed 1:03.69 and Hong Kong's NG Yan Kin who clocked 1:05.82 seconds. Khade, who won gold in the 50m freestyle on Wednesday, ensured the first-place finish as he kept up the momentum created by his compatriots to win gold. He timed 53.00 seconds while Thailand's Tarit Thongchumsin tried catching with a faster time of 52.29 seconds but settled for silver while Hong Kong's Fung Chung Ho clocked 53.85 seconds to take home the bronze medal.  Nataraj, after his gold-medal feat stated:

We had a good start, I was expecting to be half a second faster but maybe I’m bit exhausted from all the racing. We all swam a very good race. We led from the start to finish. It is motivating to see other Indian swimmers do well in this Championships, I feel this is the strongest team we have had and I am really excited that it is going well.

In the 4x100m medley relay for open category women, India comprising Maana Patel, Divya Satija, Chahat Arora and Shivani Kataria bagged the silver medal with a time of 4:26.69 seconds. Thailand won the race with a time of 4:23.23 while Hong Kong finished third with a timing of 4:31.19 seconds.

Water Polo round-up

The Indian men’s Water Polo team got the better of Sri Lanka beating them 46-3 gaining two points. The team though lost to China 13-7. They are ranked second alongside China in the points table. The Indian women’s team has had a disappointing run so far losing both their matches against Uzbekistan (28-5) and Japan (22-12) in the Championships.

The men’s teams of Japan and Kazakhstan have won both their matches securing four points each and lead the points table. Meanwhile, in the women’s category Japan and Uzbekistan lead the points table with four points each having won both their matches.

Results Day 3:

4x100 Freestyle (Group II Mixed)

1. Japan (3:46.29)

2. Hong Kong (3:48.48)

3. Thailand (3:50.98)

4x100 Medley (Open Category Men)

1. India (3:46.49)

2. Thailand (3:48.89)

3. Hong Kong (3:53.99)

4x100 Medley (Open Category Women)

1. Thailand (4:23.23)

2. India (4:26.69)

3. Hong Kong (4:31.19)

4x200m Freestyle (Group I Boys)

1. Japan (7:37.59) NMR

2. Hong Kong (7:52.26)

3. Thailand (7:55.17)

4x200m Freestyle (Group I Girls)

1. Japan (8:23.26)

2. Hong Kong (8:41.20)

3. Thailand (8:48.52)

400m Freestyle (Open Category Men)

1. Kushagra Rawat (IND) (3:55.81)

2. Chang Cheng Li Wei (TPE) (3:56.82)

3. Abbas Omar (SYR) (4:01.52)

400m Freestyle (Open Category Women)

1. Junkrajang Natthanan (THA) (4:23.45)

2. Himathongkom Ammiga (THA) (4:26.97)

3. Kataria Shivani (IND) (4:27.16)

200m Freestyle (Group I Boys)

1. Cheuk Ming Ho (HKG) (1:50.33) NMR

2. Ishida Takeru (JPN) (1:51.42)

3. Chen Ende (CHN) (1:52.07)

200m Freestyle (Group I Girls)

1. Lyu Dongze (CHN) (2:01.60) NMR

2. Ho Nam Wai (HKG) (2:01.85)

3. Jinno Yume (JPN) (2:05.36)

100m Freestyle (Group II Boys)

1. Kiriyama Maki (JPN) (52.90) NMR

2. Takashima Yuga (JPN) (53.04)

3. Mikhail Tsaryov (KZK) (53.26)

100m Freestyle (Group II Girls)

1. Kizuki Ichika (JPN) (58.14)

2. Hironaka Hanahe (JPN) (58.43)

3. Lee Yan Hei (HKG) (58.56)

200m Butterfly (Open Category Men)

1. Sajan Prakash (IND) (2:00.38)

2. Wongcharoen Navaphat (THA) (2:01.16)

3. Klzie Ayman (SYR) (2:02.38)

200m Butterfly (Open Category Women)

1. Kittiya Patarawadee (THA) (2:19.17)

2. Nimdam Kanitta (THA) (2:25.23)

2. Wong Ching Lam Athena (HKG) (2:25.23)

200m Butterfly (Group I Boys)

1. Terakado Genki (JPN) (2:01.01)

2. Tanish George (IND) (2:03.31)

3. Tabuchi Kaito (JPN) (2:04.18)

200m Butterfly (Group I Girls)

1. Tanigawa Ageha (JPN) (2:16.18)

2. Yamagishi Kotomi (JPN) (2:19.97)

3. Tran Ngoc Thi (VIE) (2:20.10)

200m Backstroke (Group II Boys)

1. Narushima Yoshitoku (JPN) (2:07.77)

2. Kanteemool Tonnam (THA) (2:11.03)

3. Devansh Parmar (IND) (2:12.90)

200m Backstroke (Group II Girls)

1. Sasaki Miri (JPN) (2:18.84)

2. Hironaka Hanahe (JPN) (2:19.31)

3. Cheng Jessica Chloe (HKG) (2:19.35)

100m Backstroke (Open Category Men)

1. Srihari Natraj (IND) (55.06) NMR

2. Atayev Merdan (TUR) (55.28)

3. Lau Shiu Yue (HKG) (57.56)

100m Backstroke (Open Category Women)

1. Nguyen Diep Phuong Tram (VIE) (1:04.89)

2. Maana Patel (IND) (1:05.08)

3. Boonamphai Saovanee (THA) (1:05.55)

100m Backstroke (Group I Boys)

1. Nishiono Kodai (JPN) (57.49)

2. Ng Cheuk Yin (HKG) (57.52)

3. Adilbek Yusupbaev (UZB) (58.41)

100m Backstroke (Group I Girls)

1. Izuhara Nagisa (JPN) (1:03.55)

2. Chen Szu Chi (TPE) (1:03.80)

3. Elizaveta Rogozhnikova (KYR) (1:03.82)

100m Butterfly (Group II Boys)

1. Wang Yu Xiang (TPE) (56.36) NMR

2. Take Kaito (JPN) (56.49)

3. Ilya Krasnoyarov (KZK) (58.98)

100m Butterfly (Group II Girls)

1. Lau Ping Yi Audrey (HKG) (1:00.95)

2. Yin Jiahe (CHN) (1:01.84)

3. Kizuki Ichika (JPN) (1:02.03)

1500m Freestyle (Group I Boys)

1. Cheuk Ming Ho (HKG) (15:57.31)

2. Pan Zhanle (CHN) (15:58.87)

3. Ali Jafari (IRN) (16:09.72)

1500m Freestyle (Group I Girls)

1. Zhou Chanzhen (CHN) (16:56.09) NMR

2. Ho Nam Wai (HKG) (17:17.99)

3. Tanemura Mayu (JPN) (17:20.90)

100m Freestyle (Open Category Men)

1. Khurshidjon Tursunov (UZB) (50.56)

2. Virdhawal Khade (IND) (50.68)

3. Srihari Natraj (IND) (50.91)

100m Freestyle (Open Category Women)

1. Junkrajang Natthanan (THA) (57.23)

2. Nguyen Diep Phuong Tram (VIE) (57.87)

3. Srisa Ard Jenjira (THA) (58.93)

200m Breaststroke (Group II Boys)

1. Okadome Yamato (JPN) (2:21.19)

2. Chan Tsun Hin (HKG) (2:32.29)

3. Dias Tleubek (KZK) (2:32.69)

200m Breaststroke (Group II Girls)

1. Fujinawa Yuka (JPN) (2:34.84)

2. Kwanmuang Kamonchanok (THA) (2:39.73)

3. Apeksha Fernandes (IND) (2:40.38)