The four medals won by India on Wednesday saw India’s tally swell to 13 medals – four silver and nine bronze.
Srihari Nataraj, Bhavya Sachdeva, Sajan Prakash and the men’s relay team won bronze in their respective events at the Asian Aquatics Championships 2025 in the Veer Savarkar Sports Complex in Ahmedabad on Wednesday.
It was the last day of the swimming and diving events at the 11th Asian Aquatics Championships 2025.
The four medals on Wednesday saw India’s tally swell to 13 medals – four silver and nine bronze – marking the country’s most successful Asian campaign to date at ninth position overall.
For India, the final day brought four bronze medals through Bhavya Sachdeva, Sajan Prakash, Srihari Nataraj and the Men’s relay team.
In the women’s 400m freestyle, Bhavya Sachdeva began from the third lane while Aditi Satish Hegde started from the second.
Japan’s Tanimoto Haruno (4:16.39) pulled ahead right from the first 50m while Bhavya battled with the trailing group to emerge marginally ahead after 150m.
Vietnam’s Kha Nhi Nguyen (4:25.50) followed Bhavya closely till the last lap and overlook Indian to claim the silver medal,
Bhavya (4:26.89) had to settle with bronze – the first medal for India in the women’s category
Sajan Prakash in the men’s 200m Butterfly began from lane 3 and after a slow first 50m, pulled the trigger to edge ahead of Chinese Taipei’s Kuan Hung Wang (1:56.63) and Japan’s Ryo Kuratsuka.
However, the trailing duo swam faster in the last lap, pushing Sajan back to third place with a time of 1:57.90.
In the men’s 100m backstroke, Srihari Natraj began from lane 4 and turned third at the 50m mark, just ahead of teammate Rishabh Das in lane 5.
People’s Republic of China’s Gukailai Wang (54.27) and Chinese Taipei’s Lu Lun Chuang (54.45) maintained a slim lead through to the finish, leaving Srihari to take bronze in 55.23, while Rishabh followed close behind in fourth.
The men’s 4x100m freestyle relay capped off the evening with a thrilling contest. Thomas Durai gave India a steady start, handing over in third place before Akash Mani surged through the second leg to move up into second behind China.
Rohit Benedicton battled hard on the third lap but was edged into third by Chinese Taipei’s Mu Lun Chuang. Anchoring the final stretch, Srihari Natraj pushed furiously to reclaim second, but China (3:20.24) and Chinese Taipei (3:20.59) held their ground, leaving India to clinch bronze with a time of 3:21.49 in a nail-biting finish.
The 11th Asian Aquatics Championships 2025 will continue with artistic swimming and water polo events from Saturday.
