Swimmers Srihari Nataraj and Maana Patel disappoint in 100m backstroke

TOKYO: India's swimmers Srihari Nataraj and Maana Patel's Olympic campaign came to an end, the two youngsters failing to qualify for the semi-finals of their respective events, in Tokyo, on Sunday.

Competing in their maiden Olympics, both swimmers put up underwhelming performances and were unable to match their personal best times in the 100 metres backstroke.

Srihari clocked 54.31 seconds to finish his men's 100m backstroke heat in sixth place.

It was a disappointing display by the Bengaluru swimmer, who had raised everyone's expectations by consistently shaving off time from his personal best in the run-up to the Tokyo Games.

The 20-year-old has a personal best of 53.77s that he had clocked at the Sette Colli Trophy in Italy to qualify for the Olympics last month.

Had Srihari clocked his personal best he would have qualified for the semi-finals as Joseph Armstrong of the United States and Greece's Apostolos Christou, the last two swimmers to qualify for the semis, clocked the same time.

Overall, Srihari was ranked 27 among the 40 swimmers. The top 16 swimmers qualify for the semi-finals.

On the other hand, Maana, swimming in the slowest heat, finished with a time of 1.05.20s behind Zimbabwe's Donata Katai, who clocked 1:02.73s, while Grenada's Kimberly Ince (1:10.24s) finished third in the three-swimmer field. Agencies

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