Pakistan happy over inclusion of its swimmers in London Olympics

Islamabad - Pakistani sports lovers and officials of the Pakistan Swimming Federation (PSF) were excited after two swimmers of the country were allowed to feature in the upcoming London Olympics.

The official of the PSF told Xinhua on Saturday that the world swimming body FINA had sent them the confirmation of the two Pakistani swimmers' inclusion at the London Games.

The FINA selected one female simmer Anum Bandey and Israr Hussain on the basis of their impressive performance in the 14th FINA World Championships, which was held in Shanghai, China last year.

The selection was made on the berths reserved for the countries whose athletes failed to qualify for the Olympics.

Husain, who achieved a record of 57.69 seconds in the Shanghai world championships, will compete in the 100-meter freestyle.

He was also named the best male athlete at the Pakistan National Swimming Championships last year.

Bandey, who set a new national record of 5 minutes and 37.11 seconds, will participate in the 400m individual medley at the London Olympics.

Bandey said that she would try her best to perform better and improve the record of her predecessor Kiran Khan, who represented Pakistan at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and stood at 45th position among 198 swimmers in the competition.

Banday is the third Pakistani female swimmer to appear at the Olympic Games after Khan and Rubab Raza, who made Olympic history for Pakistan at Athens in 2004.