Beijing Olympics

Beijing: Indian swimmer Veerdhawal Khade came up with his best performance, setting a new national record in 100-metre freestyle in the Olympics, but that was not good enough to take him to the next round of the Olympic Games swimming at the National Aquatics Centre (NAC) in Beijing on Tuesday.

Sixteen-year-old Khade won the heat clocking 50.07s. That bettered his personal record of 50.49s, which he timed in FINA World Youth championship at Monterrey in Mexico in July. But the Maharashtra boy's effort went in vain as he finished 42nd among 64 qualifiers.

Sandeep Sejwal, too, failed to clear the heat in 200meter breaststroke, clocking 2:15.24. He finished second in his heat behind Edvinas Dautartas of Lithuania and was placed 36th overall. Khade beat swimmers from South Korea, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to win the third heat of the event.

Khade said he gave his best and was fired up by the gold-medal winning feat of Abhinav Bindra. "I feel pretty good about swimming with the fastest swimmers in the world. Everyone in the contingent is pumped up after Abhinav won the country's first individual gold medal." he said.(IANS)