Chahat clocks 33.80s, wins gold in Uzbekistan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 14

Chandigarh swimmer Chahat Arora clocked 33.80s to win the gold medal in the women’s 50m breaststroke at the Uzbekistan Open Summer Swimming Championships in Tashkent today.

Chahat, who represents Punjab in national events, said the effort was “close to her best”.

“I would like to thank Swimming Federation of India for giving me a chance to participate in Uzbekistan. It was a great experience after so long. It’s an Olympic qualifying meet and it feels nice being part of the Indian team. The environment here is quite good,” Chahat told Chandigarh Tribune from Uzbekistan.

When asked about Olympic qualification, Chahat said: “Qualifying for Olympics is quite difficult. This (33.80s effort) is close to my life’s best… All the girls, however, are trying hard to get close to the Olympic qualify-ing mark.”

Last year, while she was stuck in Thailand due to the lockdown, Chahat had won gold in the 100m breaststroke at the Arena Thailand Swimming Championship.