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India's Srihari Nataraj came up with a stupendous effort to finish fifth in the men's 50m backstroke finals at the ongoing Commonwealth Games 2022 (CWG 2022) in Birmingham on Monday, August 1.
Srihari Nataraj clocked 25.23s to finish fifth, the best-ever position achieved by an Indian swimmer in the category in a CWG final.
New Zealand's Andrew Jeffcoat won the gold medal with a time of 24.65s while South Africa's Pieter Coetze won the silver clocking 24.77s. The bronze medal went to Canada's Javier Acevedo, who finished his race in 24.97s.
Srihari Nataraj was 0.58s behind Jeffcoat and 0.26s behind the bronze medal winner.
Swimming in Lane 8, Srihari got off to a good start with a reaction time of 0.55s, and kept up with most of the field during the sprint.
Srihari Nataraj having a good CWG 2022 outing
The Bengaluru-based swimmer is having an excellent CWG 2022, qualifying for two finals. He finished seventh in the 100m backstroke final earlier.
Competing in the first semi-final of the men's 50m backstroke event, Srihari Nataraj started well and finished fifth with a time of 25.38s. After an anxious wait for the second semi-final to be completed, Srihari found a place in the top-eight, progressing to the final as the eighth swimmer.
Also read: CWG 2022: Indian weightlifter Achinta Sheuli wins gold in men's 73kg final
Competing from Lane 6, Srihari was 0.57s behind the fastest swimmer in the semi-finals, South Africa's Pieter Coetze.
CWG 2022: Sajan Prakash fails to impress
Meanwhile, Sajan Prakash had a horrid outing, finishing last in the first semi-final of the 100m butterfly event. Sajan clocked 54.24s and finished 16th overall at the end of the second semi-final.
India's para swimmers Suyash Jadhav and Niranjan Mukundan finished fifth and seventh respectively in the Men's 50m Freestyle S7 event.
Suyash clocked 31.30s while Niranjan finished the race in 32.55s. The gold medal was won by Australia's Matthew Levy, who finished with a time of 28.95s. Wei Soong Toh of Singapore (29.10s) and South Africa's Christian Sadie (29.78s) completed the podium.
