2025 Asian Aquatics Championships: Srihari Nataraj secures India’s first medal in 16 years

India celebrated a historic evening at the 2025 Asian Aquatics Championships on Sunday, with Srihari Nataraj delivering a sensational performance to secure two individual silver medals and contribute to a men’s relay bronze.

Nataraj claimed India’s first swimming medal at the Asian Championships in 16 years with a silver in the men’s 100m backstroke, clocking 1:48.47.

Minutes later, he doubled up by winning a second silver in the 50m backstroke, finishing in 25.46 seconds.

The men’s 4x100m medley relay team—comprising Srihari Nataraj, Rishabh Das, Likith Selvaraj Prema, and Rohit Benedicton—continued India’s medal rush by clinching bronze, marking the nation’s first relay podium at the championships.

For Nataraj, this was a third medal of the day, highlighting his exceptional consistency and dedication at the newly built facility by Myrtha Pools in Ahmedabad.

Other notable Indian performances included Dhinidhi Desinghu setting a new Indian best in the women’s 200m freestyle, finishing fifth in 2:02.84.

Danush placed seventh in the men’s 200m breaststroke, while Thanya Shadakshari finished eighth in the women’s 200m breaststroke final.

Rohit Benedicton narrowly missed out on an individual medal in the 100m butterfly, finishing fourth.

Bhavya Sachdeva and Vritti Agarwal also finished fifth and sixth respectively in women's 1500m freestyle faster heat.

In diving, the Indian pair of Shravani Suryawanshi and Hrutika Shriram finished fourth in women's 3m synchronised springboard.

All Results:

Men's 200m Freestyle: Haibo Xu (Gold), Srihari Nataraj (Silver), Hinata Ando (Bronze)

Women's 200m Freestyle: Mingyu Luo (Gold), Thi My Tien Vo (Silver), Xintong Wang (Bronze)

Men's 200m Breaststroke: Qin Haiyang (Gold), Iori Miyazaki (Silver), Thanh Bao Pham (Bronze)

Women's 200m Breaststroke: Mana Ishikawa (Gold), Koharu Nakazawa (Silver), Jialian Candice Gao (Bronze)

Men's 100m Butterfly: Kuan Hung Wang (Gold), Maxim Skazobtsov (Silver), Taiyu Li (Bronze)

Women's 100m Butterfly: Zhenqi Gong (Gold), Pei Yin Liu (Silver), Sofia Spodarenko (Bronze)

Men's 50m Backstroke: Gukailai Wang (Gold), Srihari Nataraj (Silver), Mun Lun Chuang (Bronze)

Women's 50m Backstroke: Jaiwei Li (Gold), Sofiya Abuakirova (Silver), Misaki Kasahara (Bronze)

Women's 1500m Freestyle Faster Heat: Pac Tung Nikita Lam (Gold), Kha Nhi Nguyen (Silver), Thitirat Charoensup (Bronze)

Men's 4x100m Medley Relay: China (Gold), Chinese Taipei (Silver), India (Bronze)

Women's 4x100m Medley Relay: China (Gold), Japan (Silver), Hong Kong (Bronze)

Men's 1m Springboard: Tai Xiaohu (Gold), Muhammad Puteh (Silver), Hengnuo Lin (Bronze)

Women's 3m Synchronised Springboard: China (Gold), Malaysia (Silver), Chinese Taipei (Bronze)

Men's 3m Synchronised Springboard: China (Gold), Malaysia (Silver), Uzbekistan (Bronze)