Asian Aquatic C’ships: Indian divers Sairam, Wilson bag bronze

AHMEDABAD : In a historic first, Indian divers Indiver Sairam and Willson Sing Ningthoujam bagged a Bronze medal in the 10m synchronised diving in the men’s category here on Day Two of the 11th Asian Aquatics Championships being held at the state-of-the-art indoor swimming facility at the Veer Savarkar Sports Complex in Ahmedabad on Monday.

‘Meanwhile, the swimmers added three medals to their tally, with Rishabh Das clinching a bronze in the 200m Backstroke, Kushagra Rawat winning a Bronze medal in the 1500m freestyle, and the Indian relay team claiming a silver medal in the 4x200m Freestyle, as per a press release from the Swimming Federation of India (SFI).

The 18-year-old Indiver Sairam and 32-year-old Willson Sing Ningthoujam, both from Manipur, train at the Army Sports Institute (ASI) in Pune. They scored a brilliant 300.66 points to bag the Bronze medal, finishing behind China’s Zhangyu Cui, Zhanhong Xu with a score of 381.75 and Malaysia’s Bertrand Rhodict Lises, Enrique M. Harold (Malaysia) 329.73. There were total of five countries participating in this event including Uzbekistan and Chinese Taipei who finished fourth and fifth respectively in this event.

The Indian divers have never medaled at this prestigious event, putting them in strong contention to earn a berth for the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, next year.

Speaking about their medal-winning dive today, the duo’s coach Shannon Roy from Australia who is appointed by ASI said, “I have been working with them for the past two years and honestly, they were quite behind the rest of the world and Asia. But over the last six months in particular, we have really put a focus on the synchronised events, platform and 3m springboard events. We’ve spent a lot of time on a couple of camps overseas, in Malaysia, and at the World Championships in Singapore.”

“Getting them prepared about what it is like to compete as a synchronised pair, which is very different from individual, was the first priority. But also exposing them at the World Championships to that higher quality, the higher calibre was important. Getting them prepared for this meet in particular and the long term towards the Asian Games,” Roy explained.

In swimming, as many as 12 Indian swimmers made it to the final of their respective events, and two relay teams entered the final. Kushagra Rawat won a Bronze medal in the 1500m freestyle. He stopped the clock on 15:30.88 while Huy Hoang Nguyen of Vietnam clinched the Gold with a time of 15:15.01 while Ilya Sibirtsev of Uzbekistan won Silver with a time of 15:23.35.

Rishabh Das added to India’s medal tally, clinching the Bronze in the 200m Backstroke with a timing of 2:02.64, losing out to China’s Gukailai Wang (1:59.78) and Japan’s Rui Yoshida (2:01.66).

To close the day, the Indian relay team of Aneesh S Gowda, Sajan Prakash Prakash, Shoan Ganguly and Srihari Nataraj brought the crowd to its feet, edging ahead of Malaysia in the last leg to finish second in the Men’s 4x200m Freestyle with a time of 7:23.38, from the first lane. China finished first with a time of 7:21.05.

Results:
Swimming
*Men
1500m Freestyle
1. Huy Hoang Nguyen (Vietnam) 15:15.01
2. Ilya Sibirtsev (Uzbekistan) 15:23.35
3. Kushagra Rawat (India) 15:30.88
400m Individual Medley
1. Yichen Xie (China) 4:19.34
2. Hung Nguyen Tran (Vietnam) 4:20.30
3. Shun Tanaka (Japan) 4:20.56
200m Backstroke
1. Gukailai Wang (China) 1:59.78
2. Rui Yoshida (Japan) 2:01.66
3. Rishabh Das (India) 2:02.64
50m Freestyle
1. Ali Tamer Hassan (Qatar) 22.45
2. Gleb Kovalenya (Kazakhstan) 22.81
3. Mu Lun Chuang (Chinese Taipei) 22.82
50m Breaststroke
1. Haiyang Qin (China) 26.99
2. Aibat Myrzamuratov (Kazakhstan) 28.04
3. Mohamed Mahmoud Mohamed (Qatar) 28.09
4x200m Freestyle
1. China (Haibo XU, Haoyu WANG, Yichen XIE, Haiyang QIN) 7:21.05
2. India (Aneesh S Gowda, Sajan Prakash Prakash, Shoan Ganguly, Srihari Nataraj) 7:23.38
3. Malaysia (Hoe Yean, Ng Shain Jian, Khai Xin TAN, Yin Chuen Lim) 7:23.43
*Women
400m Individual Medley
1. Yanjun Zhou (China) 4:44.88
2. Koharu Nakazawa (Japan) 4:47.40
3. Thi My Tien Vo (Vietnam) 4:49.81
200m Backstroke
1. Misaki Kasahara (Japan) 2:12.09
2. Jiawei Li (China) 2:12.13
3. Mia Millar (Thailand) 2:16.51
50m Freestyle
1. Mingyu Luo (China) 25.53
2. Yi Chen Chiu (Chinese Taipei) 25.57
3. Sum Yiu Li (Hong Kong) 25.64
50m Breaststroke
1. Wui Kiu Man (Hong Kong) 32.04
2. Wing Yi Claire Cheung (Hong Kong) 32.26
3. Yi Chen Chiu (Chinese Taipei) 32.29
Women’s 4x200m Freestyle Relay
1. China (Mingyu Luo, Yijing Wang, Yanjun Zhou, Zhenqi Gong) 8:17.79
2. Hong Kong (Xintong Wang, Pac Tung Nikita Lam, Sum Yiu Li, Wui Kiu Man) 8:16.93
3. Thailand (Mia Miler, Thitirat Charoensup, Jinjutha Pholjamjumrus, Kamochanok Kwanmung) 8:32.17
Diving
*Men
Synchronised 10m Platform
1. Zhangyu Cui, Zhanhong Xu (China) 381.75
2. Bertrand Rhodict Lises, Enrique M. Harold (Malasiya) 329.73
3. Indiver Sairam, Willson Sing Ningthoujam (India) 300.66
*Women
Synchronised 10m Platform
1. Xiahan Wu, Zihan Liu (China) 317.04
2. Nur Muhammad Abrar Raj, Nurul Farisya A. Affendi (Malaysia) 235.86
3. Gladies Lariesa G. Kore, Linar Betiliana (Indonesia) 209.58. (ANI)