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Olympians Srihari Nataraj, Sajan Prakash and Maana Patel to lead 23-member Indian Swimming team at Asian Games

The Swimming federation of India also named a 13-member squad for water polo and two divers – Siddharth Bajrang Pardeshi and Heman London Singh.

Olympians Srihari Nataraj, Sajan Prakash and Maana Patel to lead 23-member Indian Swimming team at Asian Games

Srihari Nataraj, Sajan Prakash and Maana Patel

Olympians Srihari Nataraj, Sajan Prakash and Maana Patel will spearhead 21-member (12 men and nine women) Indian Swimming team at the Asian Games to be held in Hangzhou, China, from September 23 to 8

It will be the first time since Doha 2006 that Indian women will participate in swimming events at the Asian Games.

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The Swimming federation of India also named a 13-member squad for water polo and two divers – Siddharth Bajrang Pardeshi and Heman London Singh.

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Young swimmers Aryan Nehra and Lineysha AK, who broke several national records at the national championships, also made the cut in the swimming squad. Aryan Nehra competes in freestyle and medley events while Lineysha AK features in women’s breaststroke competitions.

Sajan Prakash will compete in his pet butterfly events while Srihari Nataraj and Maana Patel will feature mostly in backstroke. Maana rewrote her national record in the 100m backstroke at the national championships.

Siva Sridhar and Virdhawal Khade, who won a bronze medal in the 50m butterfly event at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, have also been named in the squad.

Nina Venkatesh, the national record holder in the women’s 50m and 100m butterfly events and 13-year-old Dhinidhi Desinghu, who set a national record in the 200m freestyle at national championships, will also be seen at the Asian Games.

Swimming has been part of the Asian Games since its inaugural edition at New Delhi 1951. Sachin Nag won the 100m freestyle event to become India’s first gold medalist at the Asian Games. India have won two silver and six bronze medals since then but are yet to strike gold in over 70 years.

The squad
Men: Aneesh Gowda, Advait Page, Aryan Nehra, Anand AS, Kushagra Rawat, Likith SP, Sajan Prakash, Srihari Nataraj, Tanish George Mathew, Utkarsh Patil, Vishal Grewal and Virdhawal Khade.

Women: Anannya Nayak, Dinidhi Desinghu, Hashika Ramchandran, Lineysha AK, Maana Patel, Nina Venkatesh, Palak Joshi, Shivangi Sarma and Vritti Agarwal.

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