Asian Games: India’s men’s swimming team misses out on podium finish in men’s 4x100m medley relay

The Indian team managed to secure a fifth-placed finish by clocking 3:40:20

Hangzhou: The Indian team of Srihari Natraj, Likith Selvaraj, Sajan Prakash and Tanish Matthew missed out on the podium finish in the men’s 4x100m medley relay in the Asian Games on Tuesday.

The Indian team managed to secure a fifth-placed finish by clocking 3:40:20. The Indian team still had something to cheer about as they created a new national record with this timing. China dominated the contest once again as they clocked a timing of 3:27.01 to seal the top spot at the podium.

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The Republic of Korea secured a silver medal with a timing of 3:32.05 just 5 seconds shy of the top spot. While Japan missed out on the second spot by a fraction as they registered 3:32.52 and settled for bronze.

India also suffered disappointment in individual events as both swimmers, Kusharga Rawat and Aryan Nehra, settled for bottom-of-the-table finishes. Aryan finished 7th with 15:20.91 on the clock while Kusharga clocked 15:44.61 to finish last.

Nehra clocked his personal best but in the end, it wasn’t enough. Earlier, Indian swimmers Srihari Nataraj, Likith Selvaraj, Sajan Prakash and Tanish George Matthew clocked 3:40.84 in the men’s 4x100m medley relay heats to secure their spot in the Finals.

While they ranked overall fourth, 6.04 seconds behind China, the Indian quartet also broke the national record earned from the 2018 Asian Games. The Indian team finished with an impressive time of 3:40.84 in the heats. The time clocked is India’s best-ever timing in a 4×100 medley men’s event.

Palak Joshi, competing in the women’s 200m backstroke heats, failed to make the final after finishing 14th with a time of 2:25.81.

Meanwhile, Indian swimmer Shivangi Sarma clocked 58.31 to finish seventh in heat 4 and 17th overall in women’s 100m Freestyle. After finishing 4.04 seconds behind the top qualifier, the 20-year-old Shivangi will not contest for a medal in the category at Hangzhou.