India’s men’s 4x200m freestyle relay team smashed the national swimming record to clinch a silver medal at the Asian Aquatics Championships 2025 in Ahmedabad on Monday.
Aneesh S Gowda, Shoan Ganguly along with Olympians Sajan Prakash and Srihari Nataraj powered past Malaysia in a nail-biting final leg to finish second behind the People’s Republic of China with a timing of 7:23.38, just short of the winners’ 7:21.05. Malaysia won the bronze medal in 7:23.43
Srihari Nataraj has now won four swimming medals at the ongoing continental meet at the Veer Savarkar Sports Complex.
Two-time Olympian Srihari Nataraj opened India’s account with silver medals in the men’s 200m freestyle and 50m backstroke swimming events on Sunday and also helped India claim bronze in the men’s 4x100m medley relay.
The silver was one of four medals India claimed on Monday, highlighted by a historic first in diving and two national records.
Indian divers Indiver Sairam and Willson Sing Ningthoujam won bronze in the men’s 10m synchronised event on Monday, marking the country’s first-ever podium finish in diving at the Asian Aquatics Championships.
The 18-year-old Sairam and 32-year-old Ningthoujam, both from Manipur, scored 300.66 points, finishing behind China’s Zhangyu Cui and Zhanhong Xu (381.75) and Malaysia’s Bertrand Rhodict Lises and Enrique M. Harold (329.73).
“Over the last six months, we’ve really focused on synchronised events, both platform and 3m springboard,” said coach Shannon Roy from Australia. “We spent time in camps overseas, including Malaysia, and at the World Championships in Singapore, preparing them for this meet and the long-term goal of the Asian Games.”
The Indian swimmers added three medals to their tally with Rishabh Das clinching the bronze in the 200m backstroke and Kushagra Rawat winning a bronze medal in the 1500m freestyle.
Rawat stopped the clock at 15:30.88 while Huy Hoang Nguyen of Vietnam clinched the gold with a time of 15:15.01. Ilya Sibirtsev of Uzbekistan won silver with a time of 15:23.35.
Rishabh Das medalled in the 200m backstroke with a timing of 2:02.64, behind China’s Gukailai Wang (1:59.78) and Japan’s Rui Yoshida (2:01.66).
Rujula Shashidhara also bettered her own 50m freestyle mark from 26.36s to 26.34s but the 16-year-old Indian swimmer could not secure a medal.
The Asian Aquatics Championships began with swimming and diving events on September 28. Artistic swimming and water polo will begin on October 4.
Swimmers from 29 countries are competing at the 11th edition of the Asian Aquatic Championships.
India’s tally currently stands at seven medals – three silvers and four bronze – at the Asian Aquatic Championships 2025.