Indian swimmer D'Souza fails to qualify at Worlds

Indian swimmer Aaron D'Souza failed to qualify for the men's 200 metres freestyle semi-final at the World Championships here on Monday.

D'Souza was part of Heat 2 and finished an overall 56th out of 80 participants in the preliminary stage at the Kazan Arena. One competitor, Clement Mignon of France, was disqualified.

The 23-year-old Indian completed the first 50m in a quick 25.88 seconds but wasted all his energy in a spurt to slow down in the rest of the 150m. He completed the next 50m in 27.93 seconds and went even slower (29.16) to complete 150m.

D'Souza completed the last 50m in 29.03 seconds to finish the race in a minute and 52 seconds, a full six seconds slower than top qualifier Sun Yang of China.

Only the top-16 proceeded to the semi-final stage which will be held later in the day.