Father's words worked wonders for Virdhawal Khade at Asian Games

Vikram Khade is a hard taskmaster. When his heartbroken son Virdhawal called him from Guangzhou on Monday after missing the bronze medal by a whisker, Khade senior offered no words of comfort but ordered: Udhya gold pahije (win gold tomorrow).

Certainly, Virdhawal is no crybaby either. On Tuesday, he ensured that his father would walk around his hometown of Kolhapur a proud man.

Though Virdhawal didn't clinch gold, he became the first Indian in 24 years to win a swimming medal at the Asian Games by wrapping the bronze in 50m butterfly with a time of 24.31 seconds. India's last swimming medal at the games was a silver, won by Khazan Singh way back in 1986. The 19-year-old Khade's personal best of 24.25 seconds was recorded at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune in 2008.