Lalitpur, July 16

Four Nepali swimmers are set to represent the country in the 17th FINA World Championships that kicked off in Budapest on Friday.

The Nepali team will leave for Hungary on Wednesday as per the event’s schedule. Since world’s best swimmers are in the fray, Nepali swimmers, like previous editions, are targeting to set national records.

Women swimmers Sofia Shah and Tisha Shakya along with men swimmers Anubhav Subba and Suvam Shrestha were selected for the championships from the eighth Pramod Memorial Cup Open and Age Group Swimming Competition that was organised at the International Sports Complex pool on May 30-31.

Shah will compete in women’s 50m and 100m freestyle events, while Shakya will take part in women’s 100m breaststroke and 200m freestyle. Similarly, Subba will swim in 50m butterfly and100m freestyle, while Shrestha will take part in 50m and 100m breaststroke events.

The swimmers have been under training for the championship since April 8. Coach Ratna Lal Maharjan has been given the responsibilities to look after the swimmers’ training and he will also accompany the players to Budapest.

However, women swimmers Shah and Shakya attend training for three days a week as they are having a separate session under their private trainer at the Lincoln School where they study. The swimmers are under training for four months but their expectations are still the same.

Swimmer Subba, who was at the pool along with Shrestha, said his target was to set national record rather than going for medal.

“I cannot expect medal in the championships and my target will be to set a new national record,” said Subba.”The championships is a great platform for us to learn from the best swimmers of the world,” said Subba.

Maharjan, who has been getting support from fellow coach Ongden Lama at the training, said he did not have high expectations from the swimmers. “All four swimmers are doing well in the pool and I hope they can break national records as we cannot expect medal in the mega event which is participated in by world’s best swimmers,” said coach Maharjan. “And our players will also get the opportunities to learn from the championships,” he said.