CWG: Swimmers Khade, Nataraj disappoint in semis (Lead)

Gold Coast (Australia) April 5 (IANS) India s Virdhawal Khade and Srihari Nataraj disappointed with eighth place finishes in the men s 50 metre butterfly event and 100 metre backstroke event semi-final 2 respectively of the 21st Commonwealth Games here on Thursday.

While Khade could not recover from a sedate start in lane 1 and finished last clocking 24.50 seconds Nataraj did not fare any better in lane 8 reacting to the gunshot at 0.70 seconds and finishing in 56.65 seconds.

In the 50 metre butterfly category South Africa s Chad Le Clos swimming in lane 4 topped with a finish of 23.53 seconds at the Optus Aquatic Centre.

Australian Mitch Larkin was first in the 100 metre backstroke event clocking 53.15.

Earlier 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 to make the semifinals.

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.

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

--IANS
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