Asian Age Group Swimming C'ship: Men's relay team opens India's account with gold

The quartet of Srihari Nataraj, Anand Anilkumar, Sajan Prakash and Virdhawal Khade opened India's medal account on the first day of competition by clinching the gold in the 4x100m men's freestyle relay at the Asian Age Group Championships here on Tuesday.

The Indian team clocked a time of 3:23.72 seconds, almost five seconds faster than Iran, who finished second with a time of 3:28.46 seconds and Uzbekistan, who finished third clocking 3:30.59 seconds.

First to get off the blocks for India, Srihari ensured his team got off to a flying start as he touched the pads at 50.68 seconds while Iranian swimmer Sina Gholampour finished behind him at 51.42 seconds.

Anand, who came in next, was impressive as he kept up the lead. He swam the distance in 51.28 seconds while Sajan, swimming the third hundred, clocked 51.37 seconds.

Virdhawal's powerful 50.39 seconds on the clock on the final 100m guaranteed India's place on top of the podium.

"It was important that the team got off to a good start. It was a great effort from all of us and it feels good to win India's first gold at the Championships," Srihari said.

In the women 4x100m freestyle relay for open category, the Indian team comprising Rujuta Khade (59.83s), Divya Satija (1:01.61s), Shivani Kataria (59.57s) and Maana Patel (59.75s) won the silver medal with a total time of 4:00.76 seconds.

Thailand bagged gold with a timing of 3:54.29 seconds and Hong Kong finished third by clocking 4:08.64 seconds.

India's second silver medal came in the 4x100m freestyle relay for group II boys. The team featuring Vedaant Madhavan (55.27s), Utkarsh Patil (57.10s), Sahil Laskar (54.83s) and Shoan Ganguly (54.29s) clocked a total time of 3:41.49 seconds.

They finished behind Japan, who won the gold with a time of 3:34.60 seconds and also set a New Meet Record (NMR). The bronze medal was won by Chinese Taipei who clocked 3:42.29 seconds.