Khade creates history with bronze medal in swimming

Tue, Nov 16 10 04:52 PM

S S Ramaswamy Guangzhou, Nov 16 (PTI) Virdhawal Khade scripted history today as became the first Indian swimmer in 24 years to clinch an Asian Games medal by notching up a bronze but that was the only high point in an otherwise disappointing fourth day of competitions here. The 19-year-old Khade, who topped his heat by clocking 24.56sec, finished third in the 50m butterfly finals with a timing of 24.31sec, thus ensuring that India did not draw a blank. Pugilist Suranjoy Singh also provided some spark to punch his way into pre-quarter finals while the shooters came a cropper for the second successive day. Suranjoy gave a resounding start to the team''s boxing campaign by entering the fly weight (52kg) pre-quarters with a thumping win over Thailand''s Chatchai Butdee but the script turned out to be quite different at the other venues where the shooters, swimmers, shuttlers and the women''s hockey team came up with dismal performances. With the addition of one bronze medal to the kitty, India''s medals tally rose to one gold, four silver and four bronze. India had finished tenth on the medal''s tally in the Doha Asian Games in 2006 with ten gold, 17 silver and 26 bronze medals. Indian shooters drew a blank for the second successive day after they failed to qualify for the final round of the women''s 25m pistol individual event and finished a lowly seventh in the team competition. The women''s hockey team were handed a 0-3 thrashing by Japan in their second game while the paddlers endured another disappointing day with only the men''s doubles pair of Achanta Sharath Kamal and Subhajit Saha progressing to the pre-quarterfinals. The day clearly belonged to the young Khade with his swimming feat. Khazan Singh was the last Indian swimmer to win a medal at the Asian Games when he clinched the 100m freestyle silverin the 1986 Seoul edition. "I am very happy to have won a medal for India after 24 years. I wanted to win after missing the bronze yesterday. It would have been better had it been a silver or a gold," Khade, who finished fourth in the 50m freestyle finals just 0.03 seconds behind the bronze-medallist yesterday, said. More PTI SSR MRM

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