Asian Games: Srihari Natraj finishes 10th in men’s 50m backstroke final

Tokyo: India’s Olympic swimmer Srihari Natraj finished a low-key 10th in the men’s 50m backstroke final at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre here on Monday.

Natraj was up against a daunting field of Chinese and other Asian swimmers and clocked 25.52 seconds to end 10th in the final as China’s Xu Jiayu won the gold with a Games record of 24.04s. Natraj started well, staying with the lead pack, but fell behind in the second half of the 50m and finished nearly 1.5 seconds behind the gold medallist Jiayu.

It was a double podium finish for China as Wang Zicheng finished second with a time of 24.49 to take silver, while South Korea’s Jihwan Yoon bagged the bronze with a finish of 24.54. IANS

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