Ahmedabad (Gujarat) [India], October 1 : The last day of swimming and diving events at the 11th Asian Aquatics Championships 2025 saw China assert their dominance once again, sealing the overall champion title with a staggering 49 medals (38 gold, eight silver, three bronze) at the Veer Savarkar Sports Complex 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 (four silver, nine bronze), marking the country's most successful Asian campaign to date, and placing it in ninth position overall.
Behind China, Japan secured second place with 18 medals (five gold, nine silver, four bronze), while Hong Kong rounded out the top three with 14 (three gold, four silver, seven 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 three 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.