New Delhi:
India's hopes for bagging more medals in swimming received further boost on Thursday when Sandeep Sejwal advanced to the semifinals with an impressive fourth place finish even as six other Indians made the cut in their respective events.
A day after Prasanta Karmakar made history by bagging bronze, the first medal in swimming, Kiran Tak and Anjani Patel kept the medal hopes alive as the duo progressed into the final in para sport category.
Tak (1:27.02) and Anjani (1:46.68) finished seventh and eighth respectively in the preliminary rounds of the freesyle S9 category and the duo's fate will be decided in the final clash in the evening.
Earlier Sejwal gave the perfect start to Indian onslaught even though he finished fraction of seconds behind topper Glenn Snyders (New Zealand) in the men's 50m breaststroke to make the cut with a fourth place.
Agnishwar Jayaprakash (29.66) became the second Indian to qualify in the same event as he took the 11th place. The duo will now compete in the evening semis.
Badrinath Melkote clocked 59.03 in the men's 100m backstroke to edge out Beijing Olympian Rehan Poncha (4:44.95s) and Merwyn Chen (4:51.33) and earn a last-four place.
Poncha and Chen took the last two places in a field of 14 as the duo failed to make the final in the men's 100m back. India's biggest hope Virdhawal Khade swam 55.17 in men's 100m butterfly for a lowly 13th place that was enough for him to take him to semis.
Dope-tainted Jyotsna Pansare, who was inducted into the side at last minute after NADA lifted the suspension on her, was eliminated from the women's 50m backstroke while her teammate Fariha Zaman (31.34) advanced with a 15th place finish. Jyotsna finished 18th in 31.95.
Talasha Prabhu missed out a semi-final berth in the women's 50m freestyle by fraction of seconds. She clocked 27.68 to finish 16th to see her campaign end.
In the women's 100m freestyle, Poorva Shetye (1:20.79) was placed 22nd and make an exit.