Srihari Nataraj books final berth in Men’s 100m backstroke at Commonwealth Games 2022

Indian swimmer Srihari Nataraj qualified for the final of Men’s 100m backstroke on Day 1 of the Commonwealth Games on Friday, as he finished fourth in semi-final 2 (and 7th overall).

Nataraj clocked 54:55 seconds in the semi-final race to secure a berth in the medal event, that takes place on July 31 at 1:35 AM IST. 17-year-old Pieter Coetze of South Africa was the fastest across both semi-finals, clocking 53.67s.

Nataraj will be aiming to become the only second Indian to win a medal in swimming at the Commonwealth Games. Prasanta Karmakar was the first to reach this feat, when he won a bronze medal in a para-swimming event in the 2010 edition, held in Delhi.

Earlier, in Men’s 400m Freestyle heats, Kushagra Rawat was eliminated in the Heats after finished 14th overall, clocking at 3:57.45. Sajan Prakash was eliminated in the men’s 50m butterfly event as well, as he finished eighth clocking 25.01s.

Meanwhile, in the triathlon, India was unsuccessful in their first appearance at the event in the Commonwealth Games as Adarsh Muralidharan finished 30th and Vishwanath Yadav finished 33rd in the men’s individual sprint final.

Adarsh Muralidharan finished with a time of 1:00:38 and Vishwanath Yadav finished with a time of 1:02:52. England’s Alex Yee won the first gold medal of the Commonwealth Games on Friday, taking victory in the men’s triathlon.