Guangzhou: After ending India's 24-year-old medal drought in the pool in Asian Games, teen swimming sensation Virdhawal Khade topped his 100m freestyle heats but the effort was not good enough to fetch a place in the finals of the event, here today.
Khade, who clinched a 50m butterfly bronze yesterday to become the first Indian swimmer in 24 years to clinch an Asian Games medal, clocked 51.25sec to top the 100m freestyle heats today but the eventual eight qualifiers returned timings of under 51 seconds.
The 19-year-old Indian's effort was not even his personal best in this event which stands at 49.47sec, clocked at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune in 2008.
The other Indian in the event, Aaron Agnel Dsouza finished second behind Khade by clocking 52.71sec.
In the men's 200m individual medley, Rehan Poncha failed to qualify for the finals after finishing sixth in the heats with a timing of 2:08.55sec.