Virdhawal Khade finished fourth with a timing of 22.87 seconds as he missed the 50-metre freestyle swimming bronze medal by 0.03 seconds in the Asian Games here on Monday.
Having qualified for the final with a fifth best timing of 22.98, the 19-year-old Khade who had competed in the Beijing Olympics, improved on it though he could not better his own national record of 22.55 set last year in the Asian age group competition.
It may be noted that only Khajan Singh has won a swimming medal for India in the Asian Games, and that was before Khade was born.
ADVERTISEMENT
Lu Zhi Wu of China won the gold half a second ahead of Khade with a time of 22.37, as he pipped Masayuki Kishida of Japan (22.45). Another Japanese, Rammaru Harada on lane five had finished at 22.84 seconds to deny a medal for the Indian lad who was in lane No.2.
The other Indian in the fray, Arjun Jayaprakash was 26th after the heats as he clocked 24.34 seconds in a field of 43.
Sandeep Sejwal clocked 1:03.67s to be placed ninth in the men's 100-metre breaststroke event. Rehan Poncha was 21st with a timing of 2:18.56 in the men's 200-metre backstroke heats.
ADVERTISEMENT
Rohit Havaldar (2:12.79) and Rehan Poncha (2:18.56) were placed 19th and 21st respectively in the 200-metre backstroke event.
The men's 4x200m freestyle relay team of Aaron D'Souza, Mandar Divase, Rohit Havaldar and Rehan Poncha failed to make the final and was 10th and last with a time of 7:40.03.