Srihari Nataraj wins three medals; Dhinidhi Desinghu units report

Two-time Olympian Srihari Nataraj opened India’s account on the Asian Aquatics Championships 2025 in Ahmedabad with silver medals within the males’s 200m freestyle and 50m backstroke swimming occasions on Sunday.

Competing on the Veer Savarkar Sports Complex, the 24-year-old clocked 1:48.47 within the 200m freestyle to complete behind People’s Republic of China’s Haibo Xu (1:46.83). He later timed 25.46 within the 50m backstroke, taking second place behind one other Chinese swimmer, Gukailai Wang (25.11).

Japan’s Hinata Aado (1:48.73) and Chinese Taipei’s Mu Lun Chuang (25.50) completed third within the 200m freestyle and 50m backstroke, respectively.

Srihari Nataraj holds the Indian swimming record of 1:48.11 within the 200m freestyle, which he clocked on the 2025 FISU World University Games in Germany.

Srihari Nataraj, who represented India at Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024, additionally holds the nationwide report 100m backstroke.

In the ladies’s 200m freestyle occasion, 15-year-old Dhinidhi Desinghu – India’s youngest athlete at Paris 2024 – improved her personal nationwide report with a fifth-place end in 2:02.97.

The gold went to China’s Mingyu Luo (2:01.31), whereas Vietnam’s Thi My Tien Vo (2:01.95) and Hong Kong China’s Xintong Wang (2:02.30) accomplished the rostrum.

Later within the day, Nataraj returned to assist India declare bronze within the males’s 4x100m medley relay alongside Rishabh Anupam Das, Likith SP and Rohit Benedicton. The quartet clocked 3:40.87, ending behind China (3:36.93) and Chinese Taipei (3:39.40).

Swimmers from 29 nations are competing on the eleventh version of the Asian Aquatic Championships.

The Asian Aquatics Championships started with swimming and diving occasions on September 28. Artistic swimming and water polo will start on October 4.