Swimmer Nataraj misses out on 50m backstroke final berth

Gold Coast April 7 (IANS) Indian swimmer Srihari Nataraj finished ninth in the semi-finals of the men s 50 metre backstroke event at the 21st Commonwealth Games here on Saturday.

Placed in the semi-final 2 Srihari completed the race in 26.50 seconds with a 0.64 second reaction time.

His position in the semi-final 2 was fifth but in the overall semi-finals standings he was ninth. Top eight performers enter the final.

Earlier during the heats Srihari recorded a time of 26.47 seconds to qualify in the ninth spot among 16 qualifiers. The Indian finished third in Heat 1 behind Australia s Mitch Larkin and Xavier Castelli of Wales.

Australians Mitch Larkin and Benjamin Treffers claimed the top two spots in the semi-finals with the timings of 24.91 and 24.99 seconds respectively.

--IANS
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