Japanese swim trio qualify for Olympics Japan's Aya Terakawa swims in the women's 100m backstroke final at the FINA Swimming World...

Japanese swim trio qualify for Olympics

Japan's Aya Terakawa swims in the women's 100m backstroke final at the FINA Swimming World Cup short-course meet in Tokyo in November 2011. World 50-metre bronze medallist Terakawa set a new Japanese record to win the women's 100m backstroke and qualify for the London Olympics on Thursday

World 50-metre bronze medallist Aya Terakawa set a new Japanese record to win the women's 100m backstroke and qualify for theLondon Olympics on Thursday.

Terakawa clocked 59.10 seconds to beat Shiho Sakai into second in 1:00.50 and Noriko Inada into third in 1:00.57.

"I waited for four years to make this situation. I'm really happy to qualify for the Olympics. My target was to swim under 58.00, so it was a bit disappointing," she said.

"This is a competition looking forward to the London Olympics, so I'm going to be ready for it by improving my time further."

Natsumi Hoshi and Izumi Kato also secured their Olympic places by winning the women's 200m butterfly and 200m individual medley respectively.

Hoshi set a national record of 2:04.69 to beat Masami Uchikoshi and Yuka Kato.

"I can't believe it. It's like a dream. It was tough since the semi-finals. I was satisfied four years ago that I just took part in the Olympics. This time I'm determined to get a better result," said Hoshi, 21.

Kato took the 200m medley national title in a time of 2:11.79.

"I swam believing in myself. I was anxious after the quarter-finals yesterday, but I'm glad that I made the qualification time," said Kato, 22.

(Agencies)