Dhital will participate in the heat of women´s 100m freestyle on August 1 in the London 2012, while Shah will compete in the heat round of men´s 50m freestyle on August 2.[break]
Dhital, who won eight gold medals during the Sixth National Games, is the national champion with the national record on her name. Dhital had set the national record in 100m freestyle with a timing of 1 minute 10.84 seconds during the 14th FINA World Championship held in Shanghai in 2011.
Shreya Dhital
Dhital could not improve it in the recently concluded Pramod Memorial Cup 2012 held in Kathmandu and finished the 100m freestyle in 1 minute 12.09 second.
However, Dhital, who has been training in Kent, UK since last month, expects to better the timing in London 2012.
Britta Steffen of Germany holds the world record of women´s 100m freestyle with a timing of 52.07 seconds, which she had set in Rome in 2009.
Prasiddha Jung Shah
"For Nepali swimmers, Olympic is the highest exposure. We can expect improved performances and new national records only," said Iswar Karki, chief coach of swimming at National Sports Council.
Shah had won gold in the 50m freestyle in the recently concluded Pramod Memorial Cup 2012 and set a personal best timing of 27.04 seconds.
Cielo Cesar of Brazil holds the world record in men´s 50m freestyle with a timing of 20.91 seconds, which he had set in Sao Paulo 2009.
"We are not competitive enough even in the South Asian region but this type of exposure could boost the morale of our swimmers," said coach Karki.
"Since we don´t have heating pools to train our swimmers, we get only six months to train and practice. In this scenario, setting a new national record would be an achievement for us," he added.
Women´s 100m freestyle records
National Record: 1 min 10.84 sec set by Shreya Dhital in FINA World 2011, China
World Record: 52.07 sec set by Britta Steffen of Germany in Rome in 2009
Olympics Record: 53.12 sec set by Britta Steffen of Germany in Beijing 2008
Dhital´s recent timing: 1 min 12.09 sec in the Pramod Memorial Cup 2012
Men´s 50m freestyle records
National Record: 26.39 sec set by Chitra Bahadur Gurung in Kathmandu in 2003
World Record: 20.91 sec set by Cielo Cesar of Brazil in Sao Paulo 2009
Olympics Record: 21.30 sec set by Cielo Cesar of Brazil in Beijing 2008
Shah´s recent timing: 27.04 sec in the Pramod Memorial Cup 2012
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