Hangzhou: In an encouraging development for the Indian contingent at the ongoing Asian Games in Hangzhou, one swimmer each from men's 50 backstroke and men's 100 breaststroke and men's 4 x200 m relay team made it to the finals of their respective disciplines on Monday.
In the men's 50 m backstroke, heat four, India's Srihari Nataraj earned a qualification to the final. He finished third out of eight in his heat event with timings of 25.43. Overall, he secured a sixth-place finish out of 32 players to stay in contention for a medal, a privilege saved for the top eight players.
In the men's 100 m breaststroke, Likith Selvaraj earned a qualification to the final by finishing fourth in his heat with the timings of 1:01.98. Overall, he finished eighth among 32 players to be among the top eight players to go to finals.
Later in the men's 4 x 200 m freestyle relay, the team of Kushagra Rawat, Mathew TG, Sunil Gowda and Aryan Nehra also achieved a qualification to the finals. With the timings of 7:29.04, they finished a fourth spot in their heat. Overall, they finished in sixth place to be among the top eight teams who secured a berth in the finals.
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Meanwhile, Olympian Maana Patel (women's 50 m backstroke), Anil Kumar Shylaja and VV Khade (men's 50 m freestyle), Dinidhi Desinghu (women's 200 m freestyle) and Harshika Ramachandra (women's 2000 m individual medley) failed to make it to the finals after not securing top eight spots in their respective disciplines.
Earlier, the Indian women's 4x100 m freestyle relay team consisting of Dhinidhi Desinghu, Maana Patel, Janhvi Choudhary, Shivangi Sarma secured seventh place finish in the final of their discipline at the ongoing Asian Games at Hangzhou on Sunday.