The inaugural BIMSTEC Aquatics Championships 2024, which were kicked off by Union sports minister Anurag Singh Thakur earlier this week, concluded on Friday, February 9, with India taking the overall trophy with 360 points. (More Sports News)
The Indian swimmers, who won a total of 19 gold medals, also took the men's and women's champion trophies and the men and women's diving teams bagged the diving champions trophies.
The trophy for best male swimmer was given to India's Harsh Saroha for winning three gold, and Thailand's Maria Anedelko was adjudged as the best female swimmer for earning three gold and one silver.
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Thailand meanwhile won the men and women's Water Polo Championship trophies.
The first-of-its-kind event saw participation from many known swimmers, including a few who had participated at the Asian Games held in Hangzhou last year.
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The BIMSTEC Aquatics Championships 2024, which were held at Delhi’s Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Swimming Pool Complex, are a first of its kind sports event held under BIMSTEC (The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation), which constitutes a unique link between South and South-East Asian countries with five members from South Asia (Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal and Sri Lanka) and two members from South-East Asia (Myanmar & Thailand).
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The announcement for the event was made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the 4th BIMSTEC Summit in 2018, while the event was initially proposed for the year 2021. It was later postponed to 2024 due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic at the time.
The competitions, which were being hosted for participants of the under-20 age category, had events in swimming, water polo and diving. A total of 43 events took place across three aquatics disciplines, with nine trophies including overall champions being given out. Over 268 athletes from various BIMSTEC member countries participated in the event.
