Sajan Prakash fails to qualify for 200m freestyle finals

Seasoned Indian swimmer Sajan Prakash failed to qualify for the men’s 200m freestyle finals at the Commonwealth Games, signing off a disappointing fifth in his heat and 20th overall in Glasgow on Wednesday. Only the eight fastest swimmers advance to the final and Sajan was way off the mark at 1.51.99 seconds. His personal best and the National Record stands at 1:46.61 seconds. The 32-year-old finished behind debutant compatriot Aneesh Gowda, who too failed to move ahead by ending 18th overall with a timing of 1:51.64 seconds.

Gowda’s performance was a marginal improvement on his personal best of 1:51.88 secs, but it was never going to be enough as the fastest time recorded was 1:45.69sec by England’s James Guy. The slowest qualifier was another Englishman, Thomas Dean, who clocked 1:47.46sec.

Later, India’s Aryan Nehra finished seventh in the men’s 1500m freestyle event, stopping the clock at 15:36.25.

Australia’s Sam Short won the gold in 14:4211, followed by Northern Ireland’s Daniel Wiffen (14:44.70) and Aussie Benjamin Goedemans (14:49.50).