Indian swimmers sink without trace

Doha, Dec 5 (UNI) Indian swimmers' embarrassing show continued at the Asian Games here as they failed to qualify for any of the three events in which they figured today.

The fact that the field is strong cannot be an excuse for the Indians who came in full strength here knowing fully well the high quality of the opposition.

They performed so badly that no trace is visible of their participation.

In men's 50m Butterfly heat two, Ankur Poseria clocked 25.92 to finish first among the eight swimmer, and despite leading the heat it was so poor a timing that he failed to qualify.

Another Indian, Virdhaval Khade, was in heat four of the same event and he ended sixth in the eight-swimmer field. Khade timed 25.59 which was a whopping 0.91 more than the heat winner China's Dong Wang (24.68).

In the 100m Backstroke (heat three), national champion Arjun Murlidharan finished last in the seven-member field. He clocked 1:01.64 and the heat was won by Japan's Junichi Miyashita who timed 55.95. The difference between the winner and the Indian was a staggering 5.69.

Murlidharan took 29.35 to cross his first fifty and clocked 32.29 for his next fifty.

Meanwhile, Rehan Poncha continued with his dismal show. The Bangalore-based swimmer finished fifth among the six in heat two of the 400m Freestyle.

Poncha timed 4:07.22 while the heat was won by China's Lin Zhang who returned a time of 3:54.09, the difference between the winner and the Indian being 13.63 sec.

As if it was not enough, Indians also appeared in 4 x100m Freestyle relay and the quartet of Virdhaval Khade, Rehan Poncha, Arjun Murlidharan and Ankur Poseria timed 3:35.94 to be placed sixth among seven teams.

Japan with a time 3:25.55 was the leader of this heat.

UNI HSB PDS ND1712