Ahmedabad, Oct 1 (IANS) The last day of swimming and diving events at the 11th Asian Aquatics Championships 2025 saw China assert its dominance once again, sealing the overall champion title with a staggering 49 medals (38 gold, 8 silver, 3 bronze) at the Veer Savarkar Sports Complex here on Wednesday.

For India, the final day brought four bronze medals through Bhavya Sachdeva, Sajan Prakash, Srihari Nataraj, and the men’s relay team. Their efforts in the Women’s 400m Freestyle, Men’s 200m Butterfly, Men’s 100m Backstroke, and Men’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay lifted India’s tally to 13 medals (4 silver, 9 bronze), marking the country’s most successful Asian campaign to date, at ninth position overall.

Behind China, Japan secured second place with 18 medals (5 gold, 9 silver, 4 bronze), while Hong Kong rounded out the top three with 14 (3 gold, 4 silver, 7 bronze).

In the Women’s 400m Freestyle, Bhavya Sachdeva began from the 3rd lane while Aditi Satish Hegde from the 2nd. Japan’s Tanimoto Haruno (4:16.39) pulled ahead right from the first 50m while Bhavya battled with the trailing group to emerge marginally ahead after 150m. Vietnam’s Kha Nhi Nguyen (4:25.50) followed Bhavya closely till the last lap and overtook Bhavya to claim the silver medal, and Bhavya (4:26.89) had to settle for bronze, the first medal for India in the women’s category.

Sajan Prakash in the Men’s 200m Butterfly, began from lane 3 and after a slow first 50m, pulled the trigger to edge ahead of Chinese Taipei’s Kuan Hung Wang (1:56.63) and Japan’s Ryo Kuratsuka, but the duo swam faster in the last lap, pushing Sajan back to third place with a time of 1:57.90.

In the Men’s 100m Backstroke, Srihari Natraj began from lane four and turned third at the 50m mark, just ahead of teammate Rishabh Das in lane five. China’s Gukailai Wang (54.27) and Chinese Taipei’s Lu Lun Chuang (54.45) maintained a slim lead through to the finish, leaving Srihari to take bronze in 55.23, while Rishabh followed close behind in fourth.

The Men’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay capped off the evening with a thrilling contest. Thomas Durai gave India a steady start, handing over in third place before Akash Mani surged through the second leg to move up into second behind China. Rohit B Benedicton battled hard on the third lap but was edged into third by Chinese Taipei’s Mu Lun Chuang. Anchoring the final stretch, Srihari Natraj pushed furiously to reclaim second, but China (3:20.24) and Chinese Taipei (3:20.59) held their ground, leaving India to clinch bronze with a time of 3:21.49 in a nail-biting finish.

The 11th Asian Aquatics Championships 2025 will continue with Artistic Swimming and Water Polo events from 4th October 2025.

Results:

Swimming

Men

800m Freestyle

Huy Hoang Nguyen (Vietnam) 7:57.58

Ilya Sibirtsev (Uzbekistan) 8:00.37

Haibo Xu (China) 8:02.34

200m Butterfly

Kuan Hung Wang (Chinese Taipei) 1:56.63

Ryo Kuratsuka (Japan) 1:57.24

Sajan Prakash (India) 1:57.90

100m Backstroke

Gukailai Wang (China) 54.27

Mu Lun Chuang (Chinese Taipei) 54.45

Srihari Nataraj (India) 55.23

4x100m Freestyle Relay

China (Haoyu Wang, Yichen Xie, Gukailai Wang, Haibo Xu) 3:19.93

Chinese Taipei (Hsin Hao Wang, Kun Ming Fu, Mu Lun Chuang, Kaun Hung Wang) 3:20.59

India (Jashua Durai, Akash Mani, Benedicton R. Beniston, Srihari Natraj) 3:21.49

Women

400m Freestyle

Haruno Tanimoto (Japan) 4:16.39

Kha Nhi Nguyen (Vietnam) 4:25.50

Bhavya Sachdeva (India) 4:26.89

200m Butterfly

Zhenqi Gong (China) 2:09.97

Manami Miyamoto (Japan) 2:11.32

Kamonchanok Kwanmuang (Thailand) 2:12.83

100m Backstroke

Jiawai Li (China) 1:00.51

Misaki Kasahara (Japan)1:01.60

Mia Millar (Thailand) 1:03.56

4x100m Freestyle Relay

China (Mingyu Luo, Jiawai Li, Yanjun Zhou, Zhenqi Gong) 3:43.72

Hong Kong (Sum Yiu Li, Xintong Wang, Wai Kiu Man, Lai Wa Ng) 3:48.40

Thailand (Jinjutha Pholjamjumrus, Kamonchnok Kwanmuang, Kamonluck, Tungnapakorn, Mia Millar) 3:54.21

Mixed

4x100m Medley Relay

China (Gukailai Wang, Haiyang Qin, Zhenqi Gong, Mingyu Luo) 3:49.43

Japan (Misaki Kasahara, Mana Ishikawa, Ryo Kuratsuka, Hinata Ando) 3:53.13

Hong Kong (Tsz Yu Ashley Chan, Yik Ki Tsui, Ralph Yat Ho Koo, Sum Yiu Li) 3:55.13

Diving

Men’s Platform

Zilong Cheng (China) 463.95

Yunxuan Zhang (China) 450.35

Igor Myalin (Uzbekistan) 378.55

Women’s 3m Springboard

Linxi Ye (China) 312.55

Sijia Li (China) 282.35

Gladies Lariesa G.Kore (Indonesia) 262.80

–IANS

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