Srihari Nataraj Misses Podium in 50m Backstroke Final

Srihari Nataraj missed the podium in the men's 50m backstroke final at the Asian Games 2026. He clocked 25.52 seconds at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre.

That was 0.15 seconds slower than his qualifying time of 25.37 in the heats. It left him about 1.5 seconds behind the winner.

China's Xu Jiayu won the gold in a Games record 24.04 seconds. It was his second gold of the meet. Xu also won the men's 100m backstroke on Sunday in a Games record 51.98.

Srihari is a former Asian Games finalist. He finished sixth in the 100m backstroke final at Hangzhou. Fellow Indian Rishabh Das finished sixth in the 100m backstroke final in Tokyo on Sunday with a personal best.