Indian swimmers Sandeep Sejwal, Aaron D’Souza, Virdhawal Khade, Saurav Sangvekar, Sajan Prakash and others are geared up to distinguish themselves at the 16th FINA World aquatics Championships beginning on Friday.
The meet, that will go on till August 9, is an important warm-up event for the 2016 Rio Olympics. More than 2,500 athletes from 186 countries are expected to take part in six disciplines — swimming, synchronised swimming, diving, high diving, water polo and open water swimming.
The Kazan football stadium is being temporarily transformed into an aquatics venue — with two Olympic-size swimming pools being built on the pitch.
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“Obviously, the goal for every one of us is to make the cut-offs so that we can qualify for Rio. And personally, a top-16 finish will give me a chance to enter the evening races, which is a big thing,” Sejwal was quoted as saying by
While awaiting permission from the union government to train abroad, the swimmers trained in Bengaluru for the biggest aquatic event. Only Khade moved to Mumbai to continue his training after the 2015 National Games in Kerala.