2019 ASIAN AGE GROUP CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Tuesday, September 24th – Friday, September 27th
- Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence, Bangalore, India
- LCM
- Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap
- Results
The 2019 Asian Age Group Championships wrapped up in Bangalore, India tonight, but not before the nation of Japan topped the medal table with an impressive 79 pieces of hardware. All told through the 4-day swimming competition, Japan reaped 47 golds, 17 silvers, and 15 bronze medals to set itself apart from the remainder of the nations competing this week.
Thailand stepped it up on the final day to keep its runner-up slot, while Hong Kong held on to its 3rd position in the overall swimming medal table from day 3. India and China wrapped up the top 5 nations, with 15 and 10 gold medals, respectively.
Day 4 Highlights
Getting on the podium on the final day was China’s Zhou Chanzhen, the overwhelming winner from day 3 in the women’s 1500m freestyle. Tonight the teen took on the women’s 15-17 800m free, beating the field handily once again in a time of 8:51.78. Only Hong Kong’s Ho Nam Wai kept within range, ultimately taking silver in 8:55.33 to represent the only other swimmer under 9:08.
The Kyrgyz Republic got on the board, courtesy of Denis Petrashov and his 200m breaststroke gold medal-worthy performance. Putting up a time of 2:13.81, Petrashov not only topped the podium here but he also dipped under the FINA ‘B’ standard of 2:14.26 needed to qualify for the 2020 Olympic Games.
Petrashov has already been as fast as 2:11.65 in the men’s 200m breast this year, a time he rendered at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju where he ranked 24th out of the heats. His time checked in as a new Kyrgyzstani National Record.
Thailand’s Phiangkhwan Pawapotako was the women’s 200m breaststroke winner, touching just over half a second ahead of Vu Thi Phuong Anh of Vietnam. Phiangkhwan produced a time of 2:34.27 to Anh’s 2:34.86.
The 15-17 age category of the men’s 200m back saw Japan’s Kodai Nishiono blast a new meet record of 2:02.37 to beat the field by over 4 seconds. His time also scorched the open category winner’s mark of 2:04.25 produced by India’s 100m back victor from night 3, Srihari Nataraj.
For Nishiono, the teen’s mark overtook the old meet record produced by his countryman Takeshi Kawamoto of 2:02.87 in 2011.
Jenjira Srisa-ard of Thailand captured a meet record of her own. While competing in the women’s 50m fly, the veteran posted a mark of 27.18 to dip under the 28-second threshold. She hacked .21 off of the previous meet standard of 27.39 set by Elmira Aigaliyeva in 2011.
Finally, in the women’s 15-17 age category of the 50m fly, last night’s 50m free scorcher, Kim Min-ju of Korea, got it done once again, crushing the field in a time of 27.14. That wiped out Hirata Miyoki’s old meet mark of 27.72 from 2017 and would have placed Min-Ju 8th at the 2018 Asian Games final.