Asian Aquatics Championships 2025: Srihari Nataraj signs off with record seven medals

The Bengalurean's individual medal haul was best by an Indian in the history of the event while he was second best among male swimmers in the 2025 edition.

Ahmedabad: Srihari Nataraj ended his Asian Aquatics Championships with seven medals as he added two more bronze on the final day of the swimming events here on Wednesday. Indian swimmers folded their campaign with their best effort ever at 12 medals, four of them came on the day, including first women’s medal by Bhavya Sachdeva in 400m freestyle.

Srihari’s individual medal haul was best by an Indian in the history of the event while he was second best among male swimmers in the 2025 edition with China’s Zhenqi Gong claiming eight medals (all gold). His compatriot Mingyu Luo matched the feat in the women’s category. China won both the diving and swimming events with 38 gold, seven silver and three bronze.

The crowd favourite, however, was Srihari, who pushed for a gold in the 100m backstroke and clocked 55.23 seconds but finished less than a second behind Chinese Gukailai Wang (54.27) and Taipei’s silver medallist Mu Lun Chuang (54.45).

Srihari then teamed up with Joshua Durai, Akash Mani and Benediction Rohit for a third-place effort (3:21.49s) behind gold medallist China (3:19.93) followed by Chinese Taipei (3:20.59).  

Sajan wins second medal, Bhavya breaks the duck

Meanwhile, India captain Sajan Prakash completed his comeback from injury with an individual medal in the 200m butterfly. He had an enthralling race to the touchpad with Taipei’s gold medallist Kuan Hung Wang (1:56.63) and Japan’s Ryo Kuratsuka (1:57.24) before taking bronze at 1:57.90.

Before Sajan's medal, Bhavya Sachdeva ended the Indian women swimmers’ hunt for a medal at the ongoing event as the 19-year-old swimmer (4:16.39) had a close battle for the silver medal with Vietnam’s Kha Nhi Nguyen (4:25.50) while Japan’s Haruno Tanimoto (4:16:39) led a one-horse race at the top.

Also, the Indian mixed 4x100 medley team – consists of Dhinidhi Desinghu, Bendiction Rohit, Soubrity Mondal and Likith PS – set the fastest national timing with an effort of 4:02.68. They, however, missed out on a medal as they finished fifth.

With the swimming and diving events over, the focus will now switch to water polo and artistic swimming at the Veer Savarkar Sports Complex. Both the events will begin after two days’ gap on Saturday.

Results: Swimming: Men: 800m freestyle: Huy Hoang Nguyen (VIE) 7:57.58, 1; Ilya Sibirtsev (UZB) 8:00.37, 2; Haibo Xu (CHN) 8:02.34, 3.

200m butterfly: Kuan Hung Wang (TPE) 1:56.63, 1; Ryo Kuratsuka (JPN) 1:57.24, 2; Sajan Prakash (IND) 1:57.90, 3.

100m backstroke: Gukailai Wang (CHN) 54.27, 1; Mu Lun Chuang (TPE) 54.45, 2; Srihari Nataraj (IND) 55.23, 3.

4x100m freestyle relay: China 3:19.93, 1; Chinese Taipei 3:20.59, 2; India 3:21.49, 3.

Women: 400m freestyle: Haruno Tanimoto (JPN) 4:16.39, 1; Kha Nhi Nguyen (VIE) 4:25.50, 2; Bhavya Sachdeva (IND) 4:26.89, 3.

200m butterfly: Zhenqi Gong (CHN) 2:09.97, 1; Manami Miyamoto (JPN) 2:11.32, 2; Kamonchanok Kwanmuang.

100m backstroke: Jiawei Li (CHN) 1:00.51, 1; Misaki Kasahara (JPN) 1:01.60, 2; Mia Millar (THA) 1:03.56, 3.

4x100m freestyle relay: China 3:43.72, 1; Hong Kong, China 3:48.40, 2; Thailand 3:54.21, 3.

Mixed: 4x100m medley relay: China 3:49.43, 1; Japan 3:53.13, 2; Vietnam 3:55.97, 3.

Diving: Men: 3m springboard: Xiaohu Tai (CHN) 455.25 pts, 1; Hengnuo Lin (CHN) 432.45, 2; Vyacheslav Kachanov (UZB) 368.85, 3.

Platform: Zilong Cheng (CHN) 463.95 pts, 1; Yunxuan Zhang (CHN) 450.35, 2; Igor Myalin (UZB) 378.55, 3.

Women: 3m springboard: Linxi Ye (CHN) 312.55 pts, 1; Sijia Li (CHN) 282.35, 2; Gladies Lariesa Kore (INA) 262.80, 3.

Sajan Prakash grabbed bronze medal in the men

Bhavya Sachdeva exults after winning the bronze medal in the 400m freestyle final. DH Photo/ Aditya K Halder