TEHRAN – Iranian swimmers Matin Balsini and Mehrshad Afghari registered new national records at the 2021 FINA Short Course World Championships underway in Abu Dhabi, the UAE.

Balsini clocked 1:58.83 in the men’s 200m butterfly and broke his own national record set in Doha last year with a time of 2:01.01.  

Japan’s Daiya Seto took the top seed in the discipline, touching the wall in 1:53.38 to hold off a packed field of the world’s elite.

USA’s Carson Foster was just two tenths behind at 1:52.59, followed by Italy’s Alberto Razzetti (1:53.19), Greece’s Andreas Vazaios (1:53.38), Great Britain’s Duncan Scott (1:53.74) and China’s Wang Shun (1:53.95).

Afghari also bettered his own record in the men’s 100m butterfly. He touched the ball with a time of 51.87, eclipsing the previous best of 52.83 set by Mehdi Ansari.

Switzerland’s Noe Ponti set the pace at 49.49 in the discipline, downing his national record from the Swiss championship last month to grab the top seed. Second was Russian Andrei Minakov in 49.60 with Youssef Ramadan of Egypt following with 49.66.

The event is being held at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi from Dec 16 to 21.