Indian Divers Make Waves with Historic Bronze at Asian Aquatics

In a groundbreaking achievement, India's diving duo, Indiver Sairam and Willson Sing Ningthoujam, secured the nation's first-ever bronze medal in synchronized diving at the 11th Asian Aquatics Championships on Monday. The historic win positions them well for qualification in the upcoming Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan.

The young divers, Sairam at 18 and Willson Sing at 32, hail from Manipur and train at Pune's Army Sports Institute. They scored 300.66 points, finishing behind China's Zhangyu Cui and Zhanhong Xu, and Malaysia's Bertrand Rhodict Lises and Enrique M. Harold. Their coach, Shannon Roy, highlighted their impressive progress over two years, focusing on synchronicity and spending time in overseas camps.

In swimming, 12 Indians advanced to their finals, with Kushagra Rawat earning a bronze in the 1500m freestyle, timing 15:30.88. Vietnam's Huy Hoang Nguyen took gold, while Uzbekistan's Ilya Sibirtsev claimed silver.