Asian Games: Srihari Natraj finishes 10th in men’s 50m backstroke final
Tokyo, Sep 21 (IANS/WISHAVWARTA) India’s Olympic swimmer Srihari Natraj finished a low-key 10th in the men’s 50m backstroke final at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre here on Monday.
Natraj was up against a daunting field of Chinese and other Asian swimmers and clocked 25.52 seconds to end 10th in the final as China’s Xu Jiayu won the gold with a Games record of 24.04s. Natraj started well, staying with the lead pack, but fell behind in the second half of the 50m and finished nearly 1.5 seconds behind the gold medallist Jiayu.
It was a double podium finish for China as Wang Zicheng finished second with a time of 24.49 to take silver, while South Korea’s Jihwan Yoon bagged the bronze with a finish of 24.54.
Natraj had earlier finished joint-ninth in the overall Heats with a time of 25.37s, qualifying for the final. Another Indian, Rishabh Das, clocked 25.41s to finish 10th and failed to make the cut for the final after being first reserve for the medal clash. Elsewhere, India’s Akash Mani and Heer Gitesh Shah failed to advance to the men’s 50m freestyle final, finishing 26th and 28th overall, respectively. Akash clocked 23.43s, while Heer Gitesh Shah finished in 23.57s in the heats.
In the men’s 100m breaststroke heats, India’s Danush Suresh finished 22nd overall with a time of 1:03.46s and failed to qualify for the final.
In the men’s 4 x 200m freestyle relay, the Indian team of Dhakshan Shashikumar, Sajan Prakash, Aneesh Sunil and Vedaant Mahadevan failed to make the final and have been placed as first reserves.
India is represented in 14 individual events, as well as the men’s 4x100m freestyle, 4x200m freestyle, and 4x100m medley relays, at the Asian Games.
Srihari and Sajan are among the most experienced Indian swimmers in the squad. Srihari represented India at the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Olympics, while Sajan swam at the Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
India have not fielded any women swimmers at the Asian Games 2026, as was the case at the Commonwealth Games.
India are looking to end a 12-year wait for an Asian Games swimming medal in Japan. Sandeep Sejwal was the last Indian swimmer to make the continental podium, winning bronze in the 50m breaststroke at Incheon 2014.
Indian swimmers returned from Hangzhou 2023 without a medal despite setting six national records.
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