Khade sets new national record after Beijing berth in Melbourne

New Delhi, Mar 30 (UNI) Maharashtra swimming prodigy Virdhawal Khade, who qualified for the Beijing Olympics 200m freestyle event earlier this week, has also set a new national record in the 100 m freestyle event at the World Championships in Melbourne.

The 15-year-old Kolhapur boy won his heat, clocking 51.46 sec to improve upon his own earlier record of 52.12 sec set at the Doha Asian Games last December and also became the first Indian to go under the 52-second barrier in the 100m freestyle, according to information received here today.

Khade became the first Indian swimmer to qualify for next year's mega event in Beijing by winning 200m freestyle heat, clocking 1:52.41 though he finished 49th in the 177-swimmer field.

His effort was 1.77 seconds better than his gold-winning effort at the 33rd National Games in Guwahati recently.

UNI