Asian Games: Virdhawal Khade qualifies for 50m freestyle finals

Virdhawal Khade was the lone Indian swimmer who made an impression by making the cut for the 50m freestyle finals while the rest fell by the wayside in the qualifying stages of their respective events in the Asian Games in Guangzhou today.

Khade was third in his heat with a timing of 22.98secs, which was the fifth best among the eight who eventually made it to the finals scheduled this evening.

The 19-year-old is 0.54 seconds behind China's Wu Zhi Lu, who qualified with the best timing -- 22.44secs -- among those in fray.

Khade is a national champion in the 50m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 200m freestyle and 400m freestyle events.

However, the rest of the Indians in action disappointed.

Arjun Jayaprakash, who was also competing in the 50m freestyle event, clocked 24.34secs to finish third in his heat but way below the eventual qualifying time.

In 100m breaststroke, Sandeep Sejwal was the only Indian in contention and he managed a timing of 1:03.67secs to finish third in his heat which was not good enough for the finals.

Similar was the story of Havaldar Rohit Rajendra and Rehan Poncha in the 200m backstroke.

Rohit managed to complete his heat in 2:12.79secs to be sixth in the standings and a good 10.25secs behind the eventual winner of his qualifying group.

Rehan finished seventh in his heat with a timing of 2:18.56secs.