Durban: Danush Suresh and Vedant Khandeparkar clinched three medals in the youth grouping of the South African National Olympic Trials at the Kings Park Aquatics Centre in Durban on Wednesday. While the JSW-supported Danush earned a Gold and Silver in the 200m and 100m breastroke respectively, Vedant took Bronze in the 200m butterfly.

The South African National Olympic Trials is a selection tournament for the Rainbow Nations' swimmers for the 2016 Rio Olympics. The Trials are also open to young swimmers, who compete in the youth grouping against competitors from across the country. All seven swimmers supported by the JSW Sports Excellence Program participated in the competition.

Danush's Gold medal in the 200m breaststroke, he clocked a time of 2.25.42 seconds, saw him earn a place in the semifinals of the event in the Open category. Incidentally, it was also a new Personal Best (PB) for the Chennai-based swimmer. In the 100m breaststroke, Danush's Silver medal was clinched after he recorded a time of 1.07.39 seconds.

Vedant, who hails from Mumbai, clinched Bronze in the 200m butterfly. Vedant logged a time of 2.14.13 seconds to win the medal.

Coach Graham Hill, under whom the seven boys train, said that doing well in a competition as keenly contested as the Olympic Trials would do a world of good to the confidence of the seven swimmers. "It is a wonderful achievement to come out of the Olympic Trials with three medals. The boys competed against some of the best in the world and that's a big plus. Even Likith swam well and was unlucky to miss out on a medal. All the seven are improving steadily and the future looks bright," he said.