Srihari Nataraj dazzles in 200m freestyle, wins silver in Asian Aquatics

Ahmedabad, Sep 28 (PTI) Ace Indian swimmer Srihari Nataraj dazzled on the opening day of the 11th Asian Aquatics Championships, clinching the 200m freestyle silver medal in the elite continental competition in over 16 years, here on Sunday.

Srihari clocked 1:48.47 seconds to finish behind 17-year-old Chinese Xu Haibo, who timed 1:46.83 seconds and was 1.64 second faster than the tall 24-year-old Indian, who has represented the country at the 2020 Tokyo and 2024 Paris Olympics.

Hinata Ando of Japan finished with a bronze, clocking 1:48.73 seconds.

On Saturday, India's head coach Nihar Ameen had expressed confidence in his wards winning 3-4 medals in the showpiece continental competition, and the 24-year-old Srihari did not disappoint by setting the tone for the other Indians.

The two-time Olympian, who earlier this year set the 100m freestyle national record at the FISU Summer World University Games in Rhine-Ruhr, Germany, competed in Heat 2 in the morning session to qualify behind Iran's Mohammad Ghasemi, clocking 1:51.09.

The other Indian, Aneesh Sunil Kumar Gowda competing in Heat 4, could not make the grade finishing fourth in the race with a time of 1:52.62 seconds.

Srihari's sterling performance follows his superb showing in the 38th National Games in Uttarakhand where he won nine gold and a silver across a mix of individual and relay events.

A total of 40 swimmers including 20 men and 20 women from India are competing at the newly-built state-of-the-art Veer Savarkar Sports Complex in Naranpura here.

The Indian contingent has been based in Naranpura over the past month for the national coaching camp.

Over 1,100 swimmers, coaches and technical officials from 29 countries are here for the marquee event in the Asian Aquatics calendar, which will serve as a qualifying event for the Asian Games to be held in Nagoya, Japan next year.

Besides Srihari, Sajan Prakash in men's and Dhinidhi Desinghu and Bhavya Sachdeva in women's are India's top medal hopes. PTI AM AM UNG