Thursday, July 09, 2009 INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana: Olympic champion Aaron Peirsol reclaimed the 100 metres backstroke world record Wednesday with a time of 51.94 seconds, re-establishing himself as the man to beat at the World Championships this month.Peirsol, who won Olympic gold in a then-world record of 52.54 at Beijing last year, admitted he was surprised to see the record fall to Aschwin Wildeboer Faber, who turned in a time of 52.38sec in leading off Spain's medley relay at the Mediterranean Games in Pescara, Italy, on July 1.Wildeboer Faber's performance had ended the American's near five-year reign as world record-holder, but as it turned out, only briefly.Peirsol, 25, lowered the 100m backstroke mark for the sixth time in his career.Matt Grevers was barely ahead of Peirsol at the turn, but settled for second in 53.11.Peirsol said breaking the 52-second barrier was in his mind going into the race.Peirsol raced in an Arena X-Glide, one of the new generation of polyurethane-based suits, but chose a style that left his torso bare.Meanwhile, Michael Phelps achieved victories in the 200m freestyle and 200m butterfly at the US trials.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in...
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