FINA World Championships: Swan finishes 54th but breaks national record

Pakistan swimmer fails to qualify for semi-final.

KARACHI: Pakistan swimmer Lianna Swan finished 54th out of 60 contestants at the Fina Swimming Championships 100-metre women’s breaststroke event in Barcelona yesterday and consequently failed to qualify for the semi-final of the event.

However, the Pakistan representative broke a national record as she clocked one minute and 19.61 seconds, besting the previous record of one minute and 22.34 seconds achieved by Mehrunnisa Khan in 2006 at the South Asian Games.

She lagged well behind the winner of the preliminary race, Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte, who clocked one minute and 4.45 seconds.

Swan’s performance yesterday was better as compared to her 200m individual medley event the previous day where she finished last among 44 swimmers. But she managed to better her own time by 1.19 seconds and improve on her national record after recording a time of two minutes and 32.61 seconds, according to the Pakistan Swimming Federation (PSF). Swan was also appreciated by the PSF for her consistent performance at the international event.

“Heartiest congratulations from the whole Olympic family,” PSF quoted banned Pakistan Olympic Association chief Arif Hasan in a statement issued yesterday. “We are proud of Lianna for a tremendous performance.”

Meanwhile, three other swimmers are also taking part in the swimming championships. Thirteen-year-old Haris Bandey participated in the men’s 200m freestyle event where he finished the competition at 66th place out of 69 participants, clocking a time of two minutes and 9.85 seconds.

Syed Mazhar Hussain Naqvi also participated in the men’s 50m butterfly competition. The 19-year-old timed 27.11 seconds and finished the event in 68th place among 78 participants.

Meanwhile, Anam Bandey will compete in the women’s 200m breaststroke event on August 1. She qualified for the event after recording a career-best time two minutes and 53 seconds.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 30^th, 2013.

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