Asian Games Swimming: Men's 4x100m Freestyle Relay Team breaks national record, advances to final

Indian swimmers put up sensational shows in the 19th Asian Games on Thursday by breaking two national records (NRs).

First up, the men's 4x100m freestyle relay team of Srihari Nataraj, Tanish George Mathew, Vishal Grewal, and Anand Shylaja clocked 3:21.22 seconds to surpass the previous NR of 3:23.72s, held by the team of Nataraj, Anilkumar Shylaja, Sajan Prakash and Virdhawal Khade.

By attaining the feat, the quartet advanced to the final. The Indian 4x100m freestyle relay team finished third in Heat 2 and fifth overall behind South Korea, China, Singapore, and Japan.

The previous Indian national record was achieved at the Asian Age Group Championships on September 24, 2019, in Bengaluru.

The final of the 4x100m Freestyle Relay Team will take place at 6:18 PM Indian Standard Time later today.

Women's 4x200m freestyle relay team creates new NR

Meanwhile, the Indian 4x200m women's freestyle relay team of Dhinidhi Desinghu, Shivangi Sarma, Vritti Agarwal, and Hashika Ramachandra clocked 8:39.64s in Heat 1 to go past the previous record of 8:40.89s, held by Shivangi Sarma, Swarna Harith, Kenisha Gupta and Khushi Dinesh since 2019.

The women's team finished fourth in Heat 1 behind Japan, South Korea, and Thailand.

The previous record was achieved at the Asian Age Group Championships.

Earlier at the Asian Games, the Indian men's 4x100m medley relay team of Nataraj, Likhith Selvaraj, Sajan Prakash, and Tanish clocked 3:40.84s to break the national record.

They bettered the national record of 3:44.94s set by Nataraj, Sandeep Sejwal, Prakash, and Aaron D'Souza in the last edition of the Games in Jakarta.