Swimming has attracted a large number of competitors in the history of Asian Games, and is only second to athletics in terms of the number of participants. Swimming has been a part of the Asian Games since its inaugural edition in 1951 at New Delhi.
Japan has been the clear-cut leader in Asian Games swimming, with an astonishing 646 medals, 258 of them being gold. Their closest competitors are China who have amassed 146 gold medals and a total of 354 medals, but are still quite distant from the numbers of Japan.
A lot of competition is expected in the Asian Games 2018 swimming, with extremely strong swimming contingents representing each nation. The swimming events will be held at the 2018 Asian Games from 19th September to 24th September.
Venue
The GBK Aquatic Center in the Gelora Bung Karno Sports Complex will play host to the swimming events of the 18th Asian Games. The aquatic center was built in 1960, and was one of the original venues when the GBK Sports Complex was completed in 1960. It has four international standard pools and has a total capacity of 8,630.
Asian Games 2018 Swimming Events
The 2018 Asian Games has a total of 41 swimming events, which is the second highest for a particular sport in the multi-sport event. The highest number of events is reserved for athletics with a total of 48 events.
The event list for swimming is as follows:-
Freestyle: 50m, 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m
Backstroke: 50m, 100m, 200m
Breaststroke: 50m, 100m, 200m
Butterfly: 50m, 100m, 200m
Individual medley: 200m, 400m
Freestyle relay: 4x100m, 4x200m
Medley relay: 4x100m
The events will be there for both men and women. However, there will also be a single mixed event in 4x100m medley relay. Each event will consist of heats on the initial day followed by the finals on the next day.
Defending Champions
The 2014 Incheon Games had three less events than the 2018 Jakarta Pelambang, with a total of 38 events - 19 for men and 19 for women. There were no mixed events.
China led the medals tally at Incheon with 22 gold medals and a total haul of 47 medals. Japan trailed China closely with a total of 46 medals, but only could muster 12 gold medals compared to China's 22. India had a modest performance at the Incheon games and only managed a single bronze medal in 50m breaststroke.
Indian Swimming Team at 2018 Asian Games
At the 2014 Incheon Games, the Indian contingent had a swimming team of seven members. The count has increased to 11 members in the 2018 Jakarta Pelambang but there is no female swimmer among the selected eleven.
The 11-man swimming roster is as follows:-
Vidhawal Khade, Sandeep Sejwal, Sajan Prakash, Srihari Nataraj, Advait Page, Aaron Agnel D’Souza, Anshul Kothari, Arvind Mani, Saurabh Sangvekar, Avinash Mani, Neel Roy.
Sandeep Sejwal won the bronze medal in 50m breaststroke at the 2014 Asian Games, and will be looking to improve on his record. Along with Sejwal, four other swimmers - Sajan Prakash, Aaron D’Souza, Anshul Kothari and Saurabh Sangvekar were part of the Indian swimming team at the 2014 Incheon Games and will return to 2018 Jakarta Pelambang to represent their country.
