File photo of Srihari Nataraj.© Twitter
India’s top swimmer Srihari Nataraj continued his impressive streak and reached the final of the men’s 50m backstroke at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Sunday. The 21-year-old clocked 25.38 and finished as the eighth fastest swimmer in the semifinals to make his second final of the Birmingham Games. Seasoned Sajan Prakash, on the other hand, finished a disappointing ninth in the men’s 200m butterfly, his favorite event.
Nataraj had clocked 25.52 seconds in heats, reaching the semifinals of the 50m backstroke.
The Bengali swimmer had finished seventh on Saturday evening in the men’s 100-meter backstroke final.
In the men’s 200m butterfly, Prakash finished fourth in his heat after a time of 1:58:99 and was placed on the reserve list for being the ninth fastest swimmer overall. The top eight advance to the final.
Prakash and Kieren Pollard from Australia clocked the same time, leading to a swim. He then produced a timing of 1:58.31 to win the swim between the two and become the first reserve.
If any of the eight finalists had failed to make the group or withdrew from the final race, Prakash would have taken his place.
promoted
But the Indian didn’t get the chance and finished ninth.
Swim-off is a special swim race where the winner qualifies for the next level after failing through the usual elimination races.
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