Swimming News -
At 2nd FINA World Junior Swimming Championship, Monterrey, Mexico

Virdhawal Khade continued to impress with his improvement in timing ... As we all know he was training in US before ongoing 2nd FINA World Junior Swimming Championship, Monterrey 2008.

And check his immediate improvement in timing at World Junior Swimming Championship; he created national record in all events he participated until now.

In 4x100 Meter Freestyle Relay Indian team finished on 17th place but Virdhawal was minimum 2.5sec (max 4.5sec) faster than his other 3 team-mates ... Only 5 other swimmers swam faster than him ... He completed his 100m freestyle in new National Record of 50.64sec ... Previous record of 50.66sec he created in the 51st MILO/PRAM Malaysia Invitation Open at Kuala Lumpur in May 2008.

In 200 Meter Freestyle he created history becoming first Indian swimmer to reach final of World Junior Swimming Championship ... In heats his timing was 1:51.31sec, that was new National Record ... His previous record was 1:51.65sec previously created in the 51st MILO/PRAM Malaysia Invitation Open at Kuala Lumpur in May 2008 ... But in the final he improved his timing almost by a second to create new National Record of 1:50.35sec to finished on respectable 6th position.

In 50 Meter Freestyle, nobody reached near of Sebastian Xavier's 22.89 sec national record in last 10 yrs which he created at 1998 Bangalore nationals ... Only Ankur Poseria managed to dip under 23 secs mark with 22.99sec which he clocked at the 2008 Post NCAA Men's Long Course Invitational ... But Virdhawal had different plan altogether ... :-)

In heats he clocked 23.54sec, well below his personal best 23.03sec, to qualify for semis ... And in semis he created history breaking Sebastian Xavier's 10 yrs old record, he clocked 22.69sec to better Xavier's record by 0.2sec ... I think this is phenomenal feat to improve own timing by 0.34sec in 2 months time in 50m event … With that he qualified for his second final at World Junior Swimming Championship and his timing is 2nd best in the final 8 swimmers ... It would be icing on the cake if Virdhawal manages to win medal in this event.

Another interesting to note, his 22.69sec in 50m freestyle is equal to 2008 best time by Asian (if I m not mistaken) ... Japan's Masayuki Kishida clocked same 22.69sec at the Japanese national swimming championships.