The last six months have seen 24-year-old Chahat Arora training here in Chandigarh after she won two gold medals in the 74th Senior Swimming Nationals conducted by Swimming Federation of India in Bengaluru in October last year. The Chandigarh swimmer, who was competing in her first national or international swimming meet in the last six months, returned to the pool with a bang with a gold medal in the women’s 50 m breastroke event in the Thailand Age Group Swimming Championships 2022 at Samut Prakan, Thailand. Arora also equalled her national record timing of 33.62 seconds in the final on Friday and was overjoyed on matching the national record and winning her first medal in six months. “I am glad to equal my earlier national record timing here in Thailand. Though I would have wanted to better the national record, I am happy that at least I am consistent in my effort. This competition was part of the planning to see where I stand right now and I am glad that I could win the gold medal. Competing here amid the Covid-19 protocols is a bit difficult as we can’t return to the team hotel for the whole day and have to wait for our events at the venue only after the initial stages of competition before the final,” Arora told The Indian Express from Thailand. The Chandigarh swimmer had won two gold medals in last year’s swimming nationals held in Bengaluru. Arora had clocked a timing of 33.62 seconds in the 50 m breaststroke final to claim the gold apart from clocking a timing of one minute and 17.01 seconds to become the 100m breaststroke national champion. Earlier, Arora had won two gold medals in the Uzbekistan Open Swimming Championships in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, in April last year. In 2020, the Chandigarh swimmer won the 100 m breaststroke event with a new meet record timing of one minute and 14.42 seconds in the Arena Thailand Swimming championships at Phuket. At that time, the swimmer was stuck in Thailand post-pandemic, where she had gone for training. “After the nationals last year, I had been training in Chandigarh. During the third wave, when all the sports complexes were closed, I got special permission from the UT sports department to train at the Sector 23 Swimming Pool. Winning the gold medals in Uzbekistan gave me a lot of confidence ahead of last year’s nationals and creating the new national record in the nationals was a special feeling. The pandemic has meant that sometimes, we have to train alone and it has taught us many things,” said Arora. Arora now will be competing in the 100 meter breaststroke event on Saturday. With Asian Games set to be held in China later this year, Arora has set her eyes on qualifying for the event. While the qualifying time for 50 M breaststroke event is 32.35 seconds, the qualification timing for 100 m breaststroke event is one minute and 9 seconds. Arora, who has the best time of 33.62 seconds in 50m breaststroke event and one minute and 14.42 seconds in 100m breaststroke, is confident of qualifying for the Asian Games. “Equalling the national record has meant that my performance is consistent. I will aim to improve my timing and hope to qualify for the Asian Games. I will be training here in Thailand for two-three weeks under my Russian coach and would aim to qualify for the Asian games in the next nationals,” said Arora, who holds a masters in sociology degree from Panjab University.
