Asian Games Swimming: Men's medley relay team shatters national record twice

The Indian men's 4x100m medley relay team achieved a remarkable feat at the 19th Asian Games, breaking the national record twice and finishing a credible fifth in the high-octane final, on Tuesday.

The quartet of Srihari Nataraj, Likhith Selvaraj, Sajan Prakash, and Tanish George Mathew powered through the pool, clocking an extraordinary time of 3:40.20 seconds during a tight final.

Earlier in the heat, the Indian men's 4x100m medley relay team broke the national record for the first time. The quartet of Srihari Nataraj, Likhith Selvaraj, Sajan Prakash, and Tanish George Mathew powered through the pool, clocking 3:40.84 seconds during a sensational heat.

What makes this achievement even more special is the fact that they obliterated the previous national record of 3:44.94s. This record had been set during the last edition of the Games in Jakarta by the team of Nataraj, Sandeep Sejwal, Prakash, and Aaron D'Souza.

This will be the third final for Srihari Nataraj in as many days as he finished sixth in the men's 50m backstroke final and clocked 25.39s on Monday while it will be the second final for Likhith. He finished seventh in the men's 100m breaststroke final earlier.

While the men's medley relay team basked in the glory, the day's events brought mixed results for other Indian swimmers.

Palak Joshi and Shivangi Sarma gave their best efforts but fell short of advancing to the finals in their respective events. Shivangi finished 17th in the women's 100m freestyle event, while Palak secured the 14th position among a field of 19 swimmers in the women's 200m backstroke, clocking a time of 2:25.81s.