Asian Games: Madhavan’s son Vedaant misses relay final; Srihari Nataraj last in 50m breaststroke final on a disappointing day for Indian swimmers

Xu Jiayu of China, wearing a yellow cap, competes in the men’s 50-meter backstroke at the Asian Games in Tokyo, Japan, Monday, Sept. 21, 2026. (AP Photo) Indian swimmers suffered another disappointment at the Asian Games on Monday as two-time Olympian Srihari Nataraj finished tenth in the 50m backstroke final while Vedaant Madhavan, son of actor R Madhavan, missed out on the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay final.Swimming events at the 2026 Asian Games are held at the Tokyo Aquatics Center in Tokyo.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.The 25-year-old qualified for the final in 25.37 seconds, the same time as Iran’s Homer Abbasi, who finished third in his heat and ninth overall.Nataraj, competing in his third Asian Games, has a personal best of 25.18 seconds, which he achieved in June 2021 in Belgrade.China’s Jiayu Xu won the gold medal, setting a new Asian Games record with a time of 24.04 seconds. At the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, he broke the previous record of 24.28 seconds set by Japan’s Junya Koga.The 50m backstroke final narrowly eluded Rishabh Das, who finished sixth in the 100m backstroke on Sunday. He clocked 25.41 seconds to finish eleventh overall.Asian Games full coverage|Program|MedalsIn the men’s 50m freestyle, Akash Mani and Geetesh Shah also failed to advance past the heats. Akash finished 26th overall after clocking a personal best of 23.43 seconds to top his ride, while Geetesh was 28th overall with a time of 23.57 seconds.South Korean Youngbeom Kim set a new Asian Games record with a time of 21.71 seconds.Danush Suresh also missed out on the 100m breaststroke final, finishing eighth in his heat and 22nd overall in 1:03.46.In the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay, Sajan Prakash, Dhakshan Shashikumar, Vedaant Madhavan and Aneesh Sunil failed to qualify for the final. The Indian quartet finished ninth out of 13 teams with a time of 7:24.32.After the qualifying round, Vedaant shared a note on his Instagram Story: “Missed the final by 0.2 and top Indian by 0.5, 200 off day after that.”Vedaant will compete in two more events, 200m freestyle (September 23) and 200m backstroke (September 25).R. Madhavan re-shared Vedaanth’s story with a ‘thank you’ emoji.India’s wait for a swimming medal at the Asian Games continues. The country’s last medal in the sport came at the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, where Sandeep Sejwal won bronze in the men’s 50m breaststroke.