{"id":26931,"date":"2026-09-21T11:11:40","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T11:11:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/?p=26931"},"modified":"2026-09-21T11:11:40","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T11:11:40","slug":"asian-games-r-madhavans-son-vedaant-misses-relay-final-srihari-nataraj-last-in-50m-backstroke-final-in-disappointing-day-for-indian-swimmers-asian-games-2026-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/?p=26931","title":{"rendered":"Asian Games: R Madhavan&#8217;s son Vedaant misses relay final; Srihari Nataraj last in 50m backstroke final in disappointing day for Indian swimmers | Asian Games 2026 News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"e9jwa\">\n<div class=\"vdo_embedd\">\n<div class=\"GfdvZ\">\n<section class=\"_bIDB  clearfix id-r-component leadmedia undefined undefined  E9tg9 \" style=\"top:0px\">\n<div class=\"_bIDB\" data-ua-type=\"1\" onclick=\"stpPgtnAndPrvntDefault(event)\">\n<div class=\"ypVvZ\">\n<div class=\"WGttI\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/thumb\/msid-134387258,imgsize-167266,width-400,height-225,resizemode-4\/xu-jiayu-swimming-asian-games.jpg\" alt=\"Asian Games: R Madhavan's son Vedaant misses relay final; Srihari Nataraj last in 50m backstroke final in disappointing day for Indian swimmers\" title=\"Xu Jiayu of China, in yellow cap, competes in the men's 50-meter backstroke heats in swimming at the Asian Games in Tokyo, Japan, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (AP Photo)\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"Ta7d_ img_cptn\"><span title=\"Xu Jiayu of China, in yellow cap, competes in the men's 50-meter backstroke heats in swimming at the Asian Games in Tokyo, Japan, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (AP Photo)\">Xu Jiayu of China, in yellow cap, competes in the men&#8217;s 50-meter backstroke heats in swimming at the Asian Games in Tokyo, Japan, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (AP Photo)<\/span><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>India&#8217;s swimmers had another disappointing day at the Asian Games on Monday, with two-time Olympian Srihari Nataraj finishing 10th in the men&#8217;s 50m backstroke final, while Vedaant Madhavan, son of actor R Madhavan, missed out on the men&#8217;s 4x200m freestyle relay final.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"2\"\/>Swimming events at the Asian Games 2026 are being held at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre in Tokyo.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"4\"\/><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"6\"\/>Nataraj clocked 25.52 seconds in the final to finish last, slower than his 25.37-second effort in the heats earlier in the day.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"8\"\/>The 25-year-old had qualified for the final after clocking 25.37 seconds, the same time as Iran&#8217;s Homer Abbasi, to finish third in his heat and joint ninth overall.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"10\"\/>Competing in his third Asian Games, Nataraj has a personal best of 25.18 seconds in the event, which he set in Belgrade in June 2021.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"14\"\/>China&#8217;s Jiayu Xu won the gold medal and set a new Asian Games record with a time of 24.04 seconds. He broke the previous mark of 24.28 seconds set by Japan&#8217;s Junya Koga at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"16\"\/>Rishabh Das, who finished sixth in the men&#8217;s 100m backstroke on Sunday, narrowly missed the 50m backstroke final. He clocked 25.41 seconds and finished 11th overall.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"18\"\/><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/sports\/asian-games\" rel=\"noopener\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\" target=\"_blank\">Asian Games full coverage<\/a>|<a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/sports\/asian-games\/schedule\" rel=\"noopener\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\" target=\"_blank\">Schedule<\/a>|<a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/sports\/asian-games\/medal-tally\" rel=\"noopener\" styleobj=\"[object Object]\" class=\"\" commonstate=\"[object Object]\" frmappuse=\"1\" target=\"_blank\">Medal Tally<\/a><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"24\"\/>In the men&#8217;s 50m freestyle, Akash Mani and Geetesh Shah also failed to progress beyond the heats. Akash finished 26th overall after clocking a personal best of 23.43 seconds to top his heat, while Geetesh was 28th overall with a time of 23.57 seconds.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"28\"\/>South Korea&#8217;s Youngbeom Kim set a new Asian Games record in the event with a time of 21.71 seconds.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"31\"\/>Danush Suresh also missed the men&#8217;s 100m backstroke final after finishing eighth in his heat and 22nd overall in 1:03.46.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"33\"\/>In the men&#8217;s 4x200m freestyle relay, Sajan Prakash, Dhakshan Shashikumar, Vedaant Madhavan and Aneesh Sunil failed to qualify for the final. <!-- -->The Indian quartet finished ninth among 13 teams with a time of 7:24.32.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"37\"\/>After the qualifying round, Vedaant shared a note on his Instagram Story: &#8220;Missed finals by 0.2 and best Indian by 0.5, 200 free day after.&#8221;<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"39\"\/>Vedaant will compete in two more events, the 200m freestyle (September 23) and the 200m backstroke (September 25).<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"41\"\/>R. Madhavan reshared Vedaant&#8217;s story with a &#8216;gratitude&#8217; emoticon.<span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"43\"\/><\/p>\n<div data-pos=\"0\" class=\"id-r-component iIpbx undefined  &#10;        \">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"-\" msid=\"134387400\" imgsize=\"426670\" resizemode=\"4\" width=\"\" title=\"\" placeholdersrc=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/83033472.cms\" offsetvertical=\"0\" placeholdermsid=\"47529300\" type=\"thumb\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/static.toiimg.com\/photo\/imgsize-426670,msid-134387400\/.jpg\" data-api-prerender=\"true\"\/><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span class=\"id-r-component br\" data-pos=\"45\"\/>India&#8217;s wait for a swimming medal at the Asian Games continues. The country&#8217;s last medal in the sport came at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, where Sandeep Sejwal won bronze in the men&#8217;s 50m breaststroke.<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/timesofindia.indiatimes.com\/sports\/asian-games-2026\/asian-games-r-madhavans-son-vedaant-misses-relay-final-srihari-nataraj-finishes-last-in-50m-backstroke-in-disappointing-day-for-indian-swimmers\/articleshow\/134386980.cms\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Xu Jiayu of China, in yellow cap, competes in the men&#8217;s 50-meter backstroke heats in swimming at the Asian Games in Tokyo, Japan, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (AP Photo) India&#8217;s swimmers had another disappointing day at the Asian Games on Monday, with two-time Olympian Srihari Nataraj finishing 10th in the men&#8217;s 50m backstroke final, while [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26932,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-31"],"magazineBlocksPostFeaturedMedia":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/xu-jiayu-swimming-asian-games.jpg","medium":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/xu-jiayu-swimming-asian-games.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/xu-jiayu-swimming-asian-games.jpg","large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/xu-jiayu-swimming-asian-games.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/xu-jiayu-swimming-asian-games.jpg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/xu-jiayu-swimming-asian-games.jpg","blogsy-small":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/xu-jiayu-swimming-asian-games.jpg","blogsy-small-tall":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/xu-jiayu-swimming-asian-games.jpg","blogsy-small-square":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/xu-jiayu-swimming-asian-games.jpg","blogsy-small-masonry":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/xu-jiayu-swimming-asian-games.jpg","blogsy-medium":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/xu-jiayu-swimming-asian-games.jpg","blogsy-medium-masonry":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/xu-jiayu-swimming-asian-games.jpg","blogsy-large":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/xu-jiayu-swimming-asian-games.jpg","blogsy-wide":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/xu-jiayu-swimming-asian-games.jpg"},"magazineBlocksPostAuthor":{"name":"admin","avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8709732a479614e7a8aa24d3eb1b239f30dc6d90c61464ed495001e7a469d856?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"magazineBlocksPostCommentsNumber":"0","magazineBlocksPostExcerpt":"Xu Jiayu of China, in yellow cap, competes in the men&#8217;s 50-meter backstroke heats in swimming at the Asian Games in Tokyo, Japan, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (AP Photo) India&#8217;s swimmers had another disappointing day at the Asian Games on Monday, with two-time Olympian Srihari Nataraj finishing 10th in the men&#8217;s 50m backstroke final, while [&hellip;]","magazineBlocksPostCategories":["\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36 \u0b2c\u0b3f\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36"],"magazineBlocksPostViewCount":1,"magazineBlocksPostReadTime":3,"magazine_blocks_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/xu-jiayu-swimming-asian-games.jpg",400,225,false],"medium":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/xu-jiayu-swimming-asian-games.jpg",300,169,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/xu-jiayu-swimming-asian-games.jpg",150,84,false]},"magazine_blocks_author":{"display_name":"admin","author_link":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/author\/admin"},"magazine_blocks_comment":0,"magazine_blocks_author_image":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8709732a479614e7a8aa24d3eb1b239f30dc6d90c61464ed495001e7a469d856?s=96&d=mm&r=g","magazine_blocks_category":"<a href=\"#\" class=\"category-link category-link-31\">\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36 \u0b2c\u0b3f\u0b26\u0b47\u0b36<\/a>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/koshalsambada.in\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}