Asian Aquatics Championships: Srihari Nataraj wins 2 medals to open India's tally

Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], September 28 (ANI): Twenty-four-year-old Srihari Nataraj opened India's medal tally at the 11th Asian Aquatics Championships on Sunday at the Veer Savarkar Sports Complex in Ahmedabad by clinching a Silver medal in the 200m freestyle and 50m backstroke for men.

Natraj clocked an impressive 1:48.47 seconds in 200m freestyle, finishing behind China's Haibo XU who clocked 1:46.83 to bag the gold and in 50m backstroke he clocked 25.46 seconds to win another Silver. China's Gukailai Wang bagged the Gold with a time of 25.11 seconds, as per a press release from the Swimming Federation of India (SFI).

Now focusing on middle-distance events apart from his pet events, that is 50m and 100m backstroke, Srihari got off to a strong start in the 200m freestyle in the first race of the finals on Sunday evening. Swimming in lane no.1, he was on-par with Haibo, with his first 50m split at 25.10 while the Chinese swimmer's was 24.93 seconds. Srihari was pushing Haibo with quick-turns and fast streamline underwater kicks on either end. His second and third 50m split were fast at 52.35 seconds and 1:20.39 seconds while Haibo was at 51.81 and 1:19.41 respectively. In the 50m backstroke, Srihari was flying high right from the get-go, maintaining his sprint pace with China's Gukailai Wang.

In the women's 200m freestyle, Japan's Minami Yui burst off the blocks, taking the early lead at the 25m mark with compatriot Hanari Runo trailing close behind. By the halfway point, Runo surged past Yui to claim the lead. As Yui faded, Vietnam's T.M.T. Vo and India's Dhinidhi Desinghu closed in, moving into second and third position. The final stretch, however, saw a dramatic shift as Hong Kong's Xintong Wang and Japan's H. Tanimoto produced strong finishes to edge past Desinghu (2:02.84), who had to settle for fifth place after breaking the national record of 2:02.97.

Reflecting on the scintillating performance from Srihari, India Head Coach Nihar Ameen said, "It is pretty incredible to bag two back to back medals on the opening day and Srihari is pushing for a third in the relay later this evening. This has never happened before in the Asian Championships, which is a great result for India."

Speaking about focusing on middle-distance events, Nihar said, "We felt like he was focusing too much only on backstroke. He is a natural in freestyle and had a good base so we thought 200m would be a good event and a medal here in this event gives puts him in good stead for the CWG and Asian Games next year."

Results:

Swimming

Men

200m Freestyle

Haibo XU (China) 1:46.83

Srihari NATARAJ (India) 1:48.47

Hinata ANDO (Japan) 1:48.73

200m Breaststroke

Haiyang QIN (China) 2:09.46

Iori MIYAZAKI (Japan) 2:12.47

Thanh Bao PHAM (Vietnam) 2:12.50

100m Butterfly

Kuan Hung WANG (Chinese Taipei) 52.41

Maxim SKAZOBTSOV (Kazakhstan) 52.66

Taiyu LI (China) 52.76

50m Backstroke

Gukailai WANG (China) 25.11

Srihari NATARAJ (India) 25.46

Mu Lun CHUANG (Chinese Taipei) 25.50

Women

200m Freestyle

Mingyu LUO (China) 2:01.31

Thi My Tien VO (Vietnam) 2:01.95

Xintong WANG (Hong Kong) 2:02.30

200m Breaststroke

Mana ISHIKAWA (Japan) 2:26.36

Koharu NAKAZAWA (Japan) 2:27.51

Jialian Candice GAO (Hong Kong) 2:29.61

100m Butterfly

Zhenqi GONG (China) 59.17

Pei Yin LIU (Chinese Taipei) 1:00.07

Sofia SPODARENKO (Kazakhstan) 1:01.14

50m Backstroke

Jiawei LI (China) 28.13

Sofiya ABUBAKIROVA (Kazakhstan) 28.19

Misaki KASAHARA (Japan) 28.96

Diving

Men

1m Springboard

Xiaohu TAI (China) 402.95

Muhammad Syafiq PUTEH (Malaysia) 333.35

Hengnuo LIN (China) 330.90

Synchronized 3m Springboard

Hengnuo LIN, Yiyang WU (China) 384.99

Elvis Priestly A CLEMENT, Muhammad Syafiq PUTEH (Malaysia) 342.30

Igor MYALIN, Vyacheslav KACHANOV (Uzbekistan) 319.17

Women

Synchronized 3m Springboard

Linxi YE, Mengyuan DENG (China) 282.60

Ker Ying ONG, Nur MUHAMMAD ABRAR RAJ (Malaysia) 233.34

Barbara CHEN, Jacqueline CHEN (Chinese Taipei) 221.10. (ANI)

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