India’s Rishabh Das produced an impressive show by qualifying for the final after finishing fifth overall in the men’s 100m backstroke heats at the Asian Games in Tokyo on Sunday.
Rishabh clocked 54.85 seconds, finishing 0.63 seconds behind second-placed Japanese swimmer Hidekazu Takehara and 2.22 seconds behind the heat leader, China’s Asian record holder Xu Jiayu (52.63s).
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The other Indian in the fray, Utkarsh Patil, finished 12th with a time of 56.19 seconds and missed out on the top-tier qualification. Rishabh will now feature in the final later today.
Meanwhile, India witnessed disappointing results in the men’s 100m freestyle heats where Benediction Beniston finished 12th with
a time of 50.25 seconds, while Akash Mani finished a lowly 23rd, clocking 50.85 seconds.
