In an encouraging development for the Indian contingent at the ongoing Asian Games in Hangzhou, one swimmer from the men’s 50 backstroke, men’s 100 breaststroke and men’s 4×200 meters relay reached the finals of their respective disciplines on Monday.
In the men’s 50m backstroke, heat four, India’s Srihari Nataraj qualified for the final. He finished third out of eight in his heat event with a time of 25.43. Overall, he finished sixth out of 32 players, keeping him in contention for a medal, a privilege reserved for the top eight players.
In the men’s 100m breaststroke, Likith Selvaraj achieved qualification for the final by finishing fourth in his heat with a time of 1:01.98. Overall, he finished eighth out of 32 players and was among the top eight players to advance to the final.
Later in the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay, the team of Kushagra Rawat, Mathew TG, Sunil Gowda and Aryan Nehra also qualified for the final. With a time of 7:29.04 they finished in fourth place in their heat. Overall, they finished in sixth place and were among the top eight teams to secure a place in the finals.
Meanwhile, Olympian Maana Patel (women’s 50m backstroke), Anil Kumar Shylaja and VV Khade (men’s 50m freestyle), Dinidhi Desinghu (women’s 200m freestyle) and Harshika Ramachandra (women’s 2000m individual medley) failed to reach the reach the final. after failing to secure the top eight places in their respective disciplines.
Earlier, the Indian 4x100m freestyle relay team comprising Dhinidhi Desinghu, Maana Patel, Janhvi Choudhary and Shivangi Sarma secured seventh position in the final of their discipline at the ongoing Asian Games in Hangzhou on Sunday.
With a time of 3:54.66, India finished in seventh place.
On the podium was China (3:33.96), which set an Asian Games record, followed by Japan, which took home silver with a time of 3:38.48 and finally Hong Kong, which took bronze with a time of 3:39.10.
The women’s 4x100m freestyle relay reached the final after a time of 3:53.80 in heat 2. With a fantastic time of 3:53.80, the team of Shivangi Sarma, Dinidhi Desinghu, Maana Patel and Janhvi Choudhary secured a place in the final .
Indian swimmer Srihari Nataraj missed out on a chance to win a medal in the men’s 100m backstroke at the 19th Asian Games. On Sunday he finished sixth in the final.
Nataraj started the race in second position and recorded a time of 54.48 with a reaction time of 0.60.
Thanks to his good performance earlier in the day, Nataraj reached the final of the men’s 100 meter backstroke. He recorded his season’s best time of 54.71.
The swimming events at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Aquatic Sports Arena will take place from September 24 to 29. The Indian contingent consists of 21 swimmers: 12 men and nine women.
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