Himachal swimmers to compete in national championship in Odisha

A five-member swimming team from Himachal Pradesh has reached Bhubaneswar, Odisha, to participate in the 78th Senior National Swimming Championship, organised by the Swimming Federation of India. The championship began on June 22.

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Informing about the team’s arrival, Ishan Akhtar, State general secretary of the Himachal Pradesh Swimming Association, said the swimmers were selected through trials recently held in Mandi. The state team includes Bhagyavardika Verma, Alija Dharta, Deepak Kumar, Aditya Rana and Bhushan Thakur.

The swimmers will compete in various events across breaststroke, freestyle, backstroke, and butterfly categories.

Bhushan Thakur will take part in the 50-metre freestyle and 50-metre backstroke, while Aditya Rana will compete in the 100-metre freestyle and 50-metre breaststroke. Deepak Kumar is participating in the 100-metre breaststroke and Alija Dharta in the 50-metre backstroke.

Bhagyavardika Verma is competing in four events: 50-metre and 100- metre freestyle, 50- metre backstroke and 50- metre butterfly.

Vinay Dhiman, president of the Himachal Pradesh Swimming Association, congratulated the athletes and wished them success at the national level.