Commonwealth Games: Swimmer Khade advances to men s 50m butterfly semis

Gold Coast (Australia) April 5 (IANS) India s Virdhawal Khade advanced to the semi-finals in the mens 50 metre butterfly event of the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games at the Optus Aquatic Centre here on Thursday.

Khade who competed in Heat 5 along with teammate Sajan Prakash overcame a slow start in lane 6 to finish fifth clocking 24.52 seconds.

South African Ryan Coetzee who swam next to the Indian topped the heat with a time of 23.94.

The Maharashtra swimmer making his international comeback after a long sabbatical made a strong finish to pip teammate Prakash who failed to capitalise on his flashy start.

In the end Khade s timing was good enough to secure his place in the top 16 swimmers who advanced to semifinals from a total of 56 who competed across seven heats.

The semi-finals of the event will be held later on Thursday.

In the men s 100m Backstroke event Srihari Nataraj also qualified for the semi-finals after clocking 56.71 seconds in the heats.

--IANS
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