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Srihari Nataraj, the Indian swimmer, qualified for the men’s 100-meter backstroke finals at the ongoing Commonwealth Games after clocking 54:55 seconds.
The 21-year-old finished fourth in his heat and seventh overall to earn a spot in Sunday’s medal event.
However, Pieter Coetze of South Africa, who clocked a time of 53.67s on the first day of competition, was the fastest swimmer across both semi-finals.
After Prasanta Karmakar’s historic bronze in the para-swimming event at the Delhi CWG in 2010, Nataraj will now aim on being the second Indian swimmer to win a medal at the Commonwealth Games.
Nataraj was the first Indian swimmer to compete in the division A heat at the Tokyo Olympics the previous year. The young swimmer placed 27th in the men’s 100-meter backstroke event with a time of 54:31s.
Kushagra Rawat finished 14th overall in the men’s 400m Freestyle heats in 3:57.45, but was unable to proceed to the semifinals.
In the men’s 50-meter butterfly competition, Sajan Prakash also fell short, coming in eighth place with a time of 25.01s.
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