Tokyo, Sep 21 (IANS) Indian swimmer Srihari Nataraj qualified for the men’s 50m backstroke final at the Asian Games 2026 after finishing joint-ninth overall in the heats with a time of 25.37s here on Monday.

Another Indian Rishabh Das clocked 25.41s to finish 10th and failed to make the cut and is the first reserve for the final.

Elsewhere, India’s Akash Mani and Heer Gitesh Shah failed to progress to the men’s 50m freestyle final after 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 in 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 it to the final and has been placed as first reserves for the final.

India is being be 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 Rio 2016 and Tokyo.

India have not fielded any women in swimming at the Asian Games 2026, as was also the case at the Commonwealth Games.

India will be 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 without a medal from Hangzhou 2023 despite setting six national records.

--IANS

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