Srihari Nataraj makes final of men's 100m backstroke event at the Commonwealth Games 2022

Srihari Nataraj makes final of men's 100m backstroke event at the Commonwealth Games 2022

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In a major result for swimming fans in India, Srihari Nataraj qualified for the finals of the men's 100m backstroke event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Friday. Nataraj first finished fourth in his semis, clocking a time of 54.55s, and then made the cut as the seventh finalist.

Prior to this, he had progressed to the semis on the back of a third-place finish in his heat with a timing of 54.68s. He was also the only silver-lining for India in the pool on the first day. Seasoned Sajan Prakash and Kushagra Rawat, both failed to make it to the semis of the events.

Prakash finished eighth in the heats with a timing of 25.01s in men’s 50m butterfly. Meanwhile, Rawat clocked 3:57:45s to finish a dismal last in the men’s 400m freestyle event. But that is not the end of the road for the duo, as they still have a lot of events to go. Prakash will compete in 100m and 200m butterfly, while Kushagra will participate in 200m and 500m freestyle.

Nataraj has been in sensational form and had set national record of 53.77s in 100m backstroke event at the 2021 Sette Colle Trophy in Rome. He also holds th record in the 200m backstroke event. Not only that, he also became the first Indian to qualify in classification A heat at Tokyo Olympics. 

On Saturday, Nataraj will be hoping to become India's first CWG medalist from swimming. 

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