Swimming | Srihari registers best Indian performance
The Hindu
Ace Indian swimmer Srihari Nataraj set the ‘best Indian time’ at the FINA short course World Championship, but that was not enough to take him to the semifinals of the 50m backstroke event here on Sat
Ace Indian swimmer Srihari Nataraj set the ‘best Indian time’ at the FINA short course World Championship, but that was not enough to take him to the semifinals of the 50m backstroke event here on Saturday.
The 20-year-old clocked 24.40s in the men’s 50m backstroke event to finish 26th in the overall heats.
However, Srihari, who competed at the Tokyo Games after becoming the second Indian swimmer after Sajan Prakash to breach the A qualifying time for the Olympics, was unable to progress to the semifinals where the top 16 swimmers compete.
The other men’s semifinal Friday is Norway’s Casper Ruud, twice the runner-up in Paris — to Rafael Nadal in 2022 and to Novak Djokovic in 2023 — against Germany’s Alexander Zverev, a finalist at the 2020 U.S. Open, an Olympic gold medalist and into the final four at Roland Garros for the fourth consecutive year.