Actor R Madhavan’s son Vedaant Madhavan made his Asian Games debut on Monday as part of India’s men’s 4x200m freestyle relay team at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.
Vedaant was part of the Indian quartet alongside Sajan Prakash, Dhakshan Shashikumar and Aneesh Sunil. However, the team could not qualify for the final, finishing ninth among 13 teams with a combined time of 7:24.32.
Only the top eight swimmers or teams advanced to the finals.
Srihari Nataraj qualifies for final
While the relay team missed out, Srihari Nataraj booked his place in the men’s 50m backstroke final.
The two-time Olympian clocked 25.37 seconds, finishing third in his heat and joint-ninth overall.
Rishabh Das, who finished sixth in the men’s 100m backstroke on Sunday, narrowly missed the final after clocking 25.41 seconds. He finished 11th overall and was named the reserve.
Indian swimmers miss other finals
India’s Akash Mani and Geetesh Shah also failed to advance from the men’s 50m freestyle heats.
Akash finished 26th overall with a timing of 23.43 seconds, while Geetesh was 28th in 23.57 seconds.
South Korea’s Youngbeom Kim set a new Asian Games record in the event, clocking 21.71 seconds.
Danush Suresh also missed the men’s 100m breaststroke final. He finished eighth in his heat and 22nd overall with a time of 1:03.46.
India lose to Japan in sepaktakraw
India also suffered a 1-2 defeat to hosts Japan in the men’s sepaktakraw Group B regu event.
India started strongly by winning the opening match 15-13, 15-9. Japan then fought back to win the second match 12-15, 15-17, 11-15 before taking the third match 9-15, 12-15.
India will next face Malaysia in their second group-stage match on Tuesday.
At the previous Asian Games in Hangzhou, India won a bronze medal in the women’s team regu event.
Vedaant’s Asian Games debut
Vedaant’s appearance marks his first participation at the Asian Games. His inclusion in the Indian swimming contingent had attracted attention because of his father R Madhavan’s profile in the Indian film industry.
The 21-year-old is pursuing a competitive swimming career and was selected as part of India’s swimming squad for the Aichi-Nagoya Games.
