Asian Games Swimming: Veerdhawal misses medal by a whisker in 50m freestyle

GUANGZHOU - Indian swimmer Veerdhawal Khade missed a medal by a whisker as he finished fourth in the final of the men’s 50 metres freestyle event at the Asian Games here Monday.

Khade clocked 22.87 seconds to finish fourth behind Japanese Rammaru Harada, who won the bronze with 22.84 seconds.

The gold was won by Chinese Lu Zhi Wu with a timing of 22.37 seconds and the silver went to Japan’s Masayuki Kishida, who clocked 22.45 seconds.

Khade qualified for the final after he finished third in the sixth heat with a timing of 22.98 seconds. Khade was the only Indian to qualify for the final in the day.

Khade’s compatriot Arjun Jayaprakash, also in the 50m freestyle, clocked 24.34 secs to finish third in his heat but his timing was way below the eventual qualifying time.

In 100m breaststroke, Sandeep Sejwal with a timing of 1:03.67 secs finished third in his heat, but it was also way below the qualifying time. Rohit Rajendra (2:12.79 secs) and Rehan Poncha (2:18.56 secs) also suffered a similar fate in the 200m backstroke heats.