Swimming: Dhinidhi Desinghu eyeing a better show in Asian Games
BHUBANESWAR: Karnataka’s Dhinidhi Desinghu is the youngest member of the Indian Swimming squad for the Asian Games.
Ahead of her first appearance at the event, Desinghu rewrote history with three new meet records in the 39th Sub Junior and 49th Junior National Aquatic Championships 2023, which concluded at the newly built Aquatic Centre on Sunday.
"I started swimming a bit late, I started at the age of eight. Within five years of training, I am going to take part in the Asian Games. I will join in the women’s 200m freestyle, 4X100 freestyle relay, and 4X200 freestyle relay events. I am expecting a better performance at Hangzhou," Desinghu reminisced.
The 13-year-old, who trains at the Dolphin Aquatics under coach Madhu Kumar BM, clocked 57.67 secs in the 100m freestyle for the group II girls event to erase Olympian Maana Patel's record of 59.12 created in 2014.
In the 200m butterfly for group II girls, Karnataka’s Tanishi Gupta and Desinghu broke the record set by Apeksha Fernandes (2:23.67) in 2019. Gupta added the gold medal to her kitty with an impeccable timing of 2:21.45, while Desinghu clocked 2:22.18 to take silver.
On the final day of the meet, the Asian Games bound swimmer created a new meet record in the 200m Freestyle Group II clocking 2:05.62.
The young swimmer thanked her family and coach for helping her in her journey. "My parents have always supported me. My coach Madhu sir, physio and the supporting staff put in their best effort for a better future for me. My mother, Jesitha V, is a working woman and she has helped me plan my studies, training, diet, and tournament," added 8th Standard student.
As a part of the large Indian contingent for the Asian Games, Desinghu was pleased with her performance at the meet. “I will join the national camp next week in Bangalore. I am happy with my performance at the national meet here. I rewrote two national records at Bhubaneswar. My timing is improving day by day and it will help me to do better timing in the Asian Games”, she told this daily in Bhubaneshwar.
Asian Games 2023: Indian swimming 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.