Dakar, Nov 7:
Indian swimmers scripted history at the 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Dakar on Friday, with Tirthank Pegu and Dhinidhi Desinghu clinching bronze medals in their respective 200m events.
Seventeen-year-old Pegu became the first Indian male swimmer to secure a Youth Olympic podium finish, clocking 2:01.25 to claim the bronze medal in the men’s 200m butterfly final. The historic swim came after Pegu narrowly missed out on a medal in the 100m butterfly earlier in the competition, where he finished fourth with a timing of 54.98 seconds.
In the women’s 200m freestyle final, 16-year-old Dhinidhi Desinghu captured her second bronze of the meet, clocking 2:02.28 behind gold-medallist Chang Mohan of China (1:59.59) and Croatia’s Ana Bobanovic (2:01.17). Dhinidhi had earlier created history by becoming the first Indian swimmer ever to win a Youth Olympic medal with a bronze in the 100m freestyle, cementing a landmark campaign for India’s aquatic contingent.