swimmer

Virdhawal Khade

backstroke

Asian Age Group

labarum

One gold. Four silver. One bronze. A few years back, a haul of six medals might have pleasedbut she wouldn’t have been over the moon.But as she raced to catch the flight back to Mumbai – and then do a road trip to Ahmedabad for her third-semester exam starting on Monday – Maana felt the spring in her step.Maana clocked 29.92s to win gold in 50m backstroke. She settled for bronze on the second day of the tournament as India 1team of Natraj Srihari, Shivani Kataria andalong with Maana came third in mixed 4x100m freestyle. Maana’s silver medals came in 100m and 200m, 4x100m freestyle relay and 4x100m medley relay.“This is not my first international tournament after the injury but this tournament will always be special to me,” Maana told Mirror after her medal haul in the just concluded 10thSwimming Championship in Bengaluru.“I felt my old self was back,” said the 19-year-old who had to battle depression while recovering fromtear in 2018. “I cried when I was telling my mother how I felt. It was just avery special feeling for me. You know it was after three years that I clocked 29 in the event.”Fact that parents of other swimmers, aware of the difficult phase she had gone through, made the feat all the more special for her.“It was my first (international) tournament in India (after her comeback) and I am thrilled by the support I got. All the parents (of other swimmers) are cheering for us. On many occasions, they cheered me up. I got goosebumps when people cheered for the country. Racing in front of the home crowd is just special. I just cannot describe the feeling,” Maana said.“I just wanted to soak the atmosphere. I just wanted to enjoy my time with my teammates. I was totally into it, so much so that for the first time in years I have not touched my phone for five days. Can you believe that?” she smiled.Such was Maana’s involvement that her teammates had to ask her to take it easy. “It was the last day and I had no events. But despite being up late at night the previous day, I was awake at six. I was fretting that I was late for my events. I was worried. Such was my situation that my roommate had to wake up and tell me that I have actually finished my events the previous day,” she laughed.