Indian swimmer Sajan Prakash’s difficult Commonwealth Games campaign continued after he failed to qualify for the men’s 200m freestyle final on Wednesday. The experienced swimmer finished fifth in his heat with a time of 1:51.99, leaving him 20th overall in the standings.

Only the top eight swimmers across the heats secured places in the final, leaving Sajan well outside the qualification mark. His timing was also significantly slower than his personal best and national record of 1:46.61, which he has been unable to match during the competition.

Aneesh Gowda also falls short despite personal improvement

Young Indian swimmer Aneesh Gowda, making his Commonwealth Games debut, also missed out on a place in the final. He clocked 1:51.64 to finish 18th overall, narrowly ahead of Sajan.

Although Gowda improved on his previous personal best of 1:51.88, the performance was not enough to challenge for a top-eight finish.

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England’s James Guy topped the qualification charts with the fastest time of 1:45.69, while fellow English swimmer Thomas Dean claimed the final qualifying spot after recording 1:47.46.

Aryan Nehra finishes seventh in 1500m freestyle

Later in the day, Aryan Nehra represented India in the men’s 1500m freestyle final, where he finished seventh after stopping the clock at 15:36.25.

Australia’s Sam Short claimed the gold medal with a winning time of 14:42.11. Northern Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen secured the silver medal, while Australia’s Benjamin Goedemans completed the podium with bronze.

Indian para swimmers book places in S7 50m freestyle final

There was better news for India in the para swimming events as Chaitanya Vishwas Kulkarni and Suyash Narayan Jadhav advanced to the S7 50m freestyle final.

Kulkarni finished fourth in the heats after recording 32.77 seconds, while Jadhav qualified in sixth place with a timing of 35.35 seconds.

The S7 classification is designated for swimmers with limited leg function.

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Sajan’s challenging Games continue

Sajan’s latest result adds to a disappointing outing at the Commonwealth Games. Earlier in the competition, the two-time Olympian was also unable to progress in the men’s 50m butterfly semifinals and the 200m butterfly, falling short of qualification in both events.

So far in the tournament, he has not managed to better or equal any of his personal best timings, all of which remain Indian national records.

Among Indian para swimmers, Prasanta Karmakar remains the country’s only Commonwealth Games medallist, having won bronze in the 50m freestyle S9 event at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games.

FAQs

Why did Sajan Prakash miss the 200m freestyle final?

Prakash finished fifth in his heat with a time of 1:51.99, placing 20th overall, which was outside the top eight qualifying spots.

Which Indian swimmers reached the para swimming final?

Chaitanya Vishwas Kulkarni and Suyash Narayan Jadhav qualified for the S7 50m freestyle final.