Swimmer Nina is ready for Asiad

EARLIER this month, at the Senior National Aquatic Championship in Hyderabad, Nina Venkatesh medalled in five events. In two of those, she broke the national record. Days after this achievement, she became part of India's squad for the Asian Games in China, the largest contingent ever from India.

- KALYANI MANGALE

"The team is almost double what was participating in 2018," Monal Chokshi, general secretary of the SFI said after the squad announcement. Eleven swimmers were there at that time. We have 21 swimmers and out of that also, we have nine girls, which is also our first since 2006. We are delighted that all the swimmers are progressing and they achieved the qualification benchmark. Nina is one of the nine female swimmers. "It was something I was looking forward to," Nina said, speaking about breaking the 50m butterfly record at the Nationals. "I got the best Indian performance in that event. It was a goal for the past few years. For the longest time, that record was at 28 seconds. I'm also the first woman in India to ever do it in 27 seconds," a jubilant 17-year-old told this daily. E