Nataraj advances to Asian Games 50m backstroke final

Nataraj, a two-time Olympian, delivered a solid performance in the preliminary round to qualify for the medal round of the prestigious regional competition. His time of 25.37 seconds was enough to secure third place in his heat and joint ninth overall standing, comfortably clearing the eight-qualifier threshold.

However, fellow Indian backstroker Rishabh Das came agonizingly close to joining him in the final. Das, who finished sixth in the men's 100m backstroke on Sunday, touched the wall at 25.41 seconds—just 0.04 seconds outside the qualifying mark. He wound up 11th overall and was named as the reserve for the final.

India's performance in the 50m freestyle proved less successful, with both swimmers failing to advance. Akash Mani and Geetesh Shah placed 26th and 28th overall respectively in the competition. While Akash topped his heat with 23.43 seconds, Geetesh clocked 23.57 seconds for last place in his heat. South Korea's Youngbeom Kim dominated the event with a new Games record time of 21.71 seconds.

Danush Suresh similarly fell short of the final cut in the 100m backstroke, touching at 1:03.46 to finish eighth in his heat and 22nd in the overall standings. The top eight qualifiers advance to the final round of competition.