Nagoya, Sept 2026 : Indian swimmer Rishabh Das advanced to the men’s 100m backstroke final at the Asian Games after delivering a strong performance in the heats on Sunday, clocking 54.85 seconds to finish fifth overall.
Das, who finished third in Heat 3, secured his place in Monday’s final and kept India’s medal hopes alive in the event. He finished 0.63 seconds behind Japan’s Hidekazu Takehara, who placed second in the overall standings. China’s Asian record holder Xu Jiayu topped the heats with an impressive timing of 52.63 seconds.
India’s other competitor in the event, Utkarsh Patil, narrowly missed qualification. Patil recorded 56.19 seconds to finish sixth in his heat and 12th overall. He will remain on standby as a reserve for the final.
India’s campaign in the men’s 100m freestyle heats was less encouraging. Rohit Benedicton finished fifth in Heat 5 with a timing of 50.25 seconds and ended 12th overall, earning a reserve position. His compatriot Akash Mani finished eighth in the same heat in 50.85 seconds and failed to progress to the next round.
Elsewhere, India began its women’s team campaign in table tennis on a positive note, defeating Indonesia 3-0 in their opening Group F encounter.
Sreeja Akula gave India the lead in the opening match before Diya Chitale doubled the advantage with an 11-9, 11-8, 11-5 victory over Almaira Nebuchadnezzar.
Yashaswini Ghorpade then completed the clean sweep by defeating Citra Rasmi 12-10, 11-4, 11-4. India will next take on Singapore in their Group F match at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday.
There was disappointment for India in teqball, however, as the country’s campaign ended without a medal. Quimcy Dsouza and Mohamed Anas Imran Beg went down 2-0 to Vietnam’s Hoang Minh Tan Nguyen and Gia Nghi Trinh in the mixed doubles bronze-medal match.
Dsouza had earlier missed out on a medal in the women’s singles after suffering a 2-0 defeat to Japan’s Yuina Sakamoto in the bronze-medal playoff.
With Das progressing to the 100m backstroke final, Indian swimming will have another opportunity to challenge for a medal when the competition resumes on Monday.
