Rana finishes 187th in Rome

KATHMANDU: Sailesh Shumsher Rana and Prasiddha Jung Shah completed the formality of participating in the World Swimming Championships in Rome today.

Competing in the men’s 100m freestyle, Rana drew the better result of the two Nepali swimmers. Swimming in Heat 4, Rana clocked 1:00.74 to finish 187th overall in the field of 213 swimmers. Rana’s qualifying time for the event was 1:02.35.

Shah, competing in Heat 4, finished 194th overall in 1:02.68. Shah’s qualifying time for the Rome event was 1:03.56. David Walters of the United States of America was the best of the 16 qualifiers with 47.59. Eamon Sullivan (47.05) of Australia holds the world record in the event. Sullivan set the world mark during the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Meanwhile, two other Nepali swimmers are set to participate in the women’s 100m freestyle on Thursday. Shreya Dhital will swim in Heat 1 and Shaila Rana in Heat 2.

Shaila holds the better qualifying time of the two Nepali swimmers. Shaila’s qualifying time for the event is 1:14.84 while Dhital’s time is 1:17.26. Britta Steffen of Germany holds the world record in the women’s 100m freestyle. Steffen set the world mark of 52.56 in June 27 in Berlin.