Asian Games swimming: R Madhavan’s son misses final; Srihari Nataraj finishes 10th

Xu Jiayu of China, in yellow cap, competes in the men’s 50-meter backstroke heats in swimming at the Asian Games in Tokyo, Japan, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (AP Photo)

India’s swimmers had another disappointing day at the Asian Games on Monday, with two-time Olympian Srihari Nataraj finishing 10th in the men’s 50m backstroke final, while Vedaant Madhavan, son of actor R Madhavan, missed out on the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay final.Swimming events at the Asian Games 2026 are being held at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Tokyo.Nataraj clocked 25.52 seconds in the final to finish last, slower than his 25.37-second effort in the heats earlier in the day.The 25-year-old had qualified for the final after clocking 25.37 seconds, the same time as Iran’s Homer Abbasi, to finish third in his heat and joint ninth overall.Competing in his third Asian Games, Nataraj has a personal best of 25.18 seconds in the event, which he set in Belgrade in June 2021.China’s Jiayu Xu won the gold medal and set a new Asian Games record with a time of 24.04 seconds. He broke the previous mark of 24.28 seconds set by Japan’s Junya Koga at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon.Rishabh Das, who finished sixth in the men’s 100m backstroke on Sunday, narrowly missed the 50m backstroke final. He clocked 25.41 seconds and finished 11th overall.Asian Games full coverage|Schedule|Medal TallyIn the men’s 50m freestyle, Akash Mani and Geetesh Shah also failed to progress beyond the heats. Akash finished 26th overall after clocking a personal best of 23.43 seconds to top his heat, while Geetesh was 28th overall with a time of 23.57 seconds.South Korea’s Youngbeom Kim set a new Asian Games record in the event with a time of 21.71 seconds.

Danush Suresh also missed the men’s 100m backstroke final after finishing eighth in his heat and 22nd overall in 1:03.46.In the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay, Sajan Prakash, Dhakshan Shashikumar, Vedaant Madhavan and Aneesh Sunil failed to qualify for the final. The Indian quartet finished ninth among 13 teams with a time of 7:24.32.After the qualifying round, Vedaant shared a note on his Instagram Story: “Missed finals by 0.2 and best Indian by 0.5, 200 free day after.”Vedaant will compete in two more events, the 200m freestyle (September 23) and the 200m backstroke (September 25).R. Madhavan reshared Vedaant’s story with a ‘gratitude’ emoticon.

India’s wait for a swimming medal at the Asian Games continues. The country’s last medal in the sport came at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, where Sandeep Sejwal won bronze in the men’s 50m breaststroke.