BY DENZIL PInto
Doha: Japan’s Daiya Seto and Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu grabbed three gold medals each on day one of the Fina/Arena Swimming World Cup (SWC) leg in Doha yesterday.
In the opening race of the evening session, Hosszu continued her rich form by holding off Slovenia’s Tanja Smid to claim victory in the Women’s 800m Freestyle, with a time of 8:29:31 minutes.
The 23-year-old also won the 200m Freestyle, finishing ahead of second-place Michelle Coleman of Sweden.
The Hungarian completed her gold medal haul in the 200m Individual Medley, beating her compatriot Zsuzsanna Jakabos with a winning time of 2:09:86.
She also grabbed silver medal, in the Mixed 4x50m Medley Relay, that was won by Germany.
In the men’s category, Seto, who won the 400m Individual Medley in the Dubai leg earlier this month, repeated his victory in the same event. The Japanese edged the 24-time European champion Laszlo Cseh by 0.012 of a second.
Seto stunned Chad Le Clos in the 200m Butterfly, beating the South African swimmer in an enthralling race. The Japanese claimed victory by the slimmest of margins, winning by one hundredths of a second and grab his second gold medal of the night.
The Japanese then made it a hat-trick of gold medals, winning the 200m Breaststroke with a time of 2:04:87. He edged Marco Koch of Germany and Sean Mahoney of USA, who finished in second and third places.
In other finals, 2012 Olympic gold medallist Cameron Van Der Burgh won the 50m Breaststroke, much to the delight of the South African fans at the venue. “It seems to be going very well, so I am very happy. Only had a few sessions in training. With some more training I can do well in December at the World Championships,” said Van Der Burgh.
Meanwhile, Qatar’s female swimmer Nada Arakji remained positive despite her last place finish in the 50m Freestyle. Arakji, who became the first Qatari swimmer at the London Games said: “This could definitely be a launch pad for me. Swimming here is like a dream come true. My first event was the Pan Arab Games – Doha 2011 and then the Olympics – London 2012. So to be here in the Fina World Cup as the first Qatari Woman is a dream.”
She added: “I’m very happy. I like to dream big and who knows, I could be the first Qatari Woman to win the Olympic Gold.”
Qatar’s Walid Daloul, Abdulla Al Yehari and Hassan Naser missed out on qualification for the Men’s 50m breaststroke.
The second day of the event will be held today. THE PENINSULA
