Sachin Nag’s swimming gold at 1951 Asian Games
On March 7, 1951, in New Delhi, at the inaugural Asian Games, swimmer Sachin Nag won the 100m freestyle gold medal. It was the first gold medal won by India at a continental competition.
After much anticipation, Nag’s victory was hailed with tremendous elation, and the cheering erupted like thunder as both the Indian swimmer and W. Walters of Singapore timed 1 minute, 4.7 seconds.
Nag touched the bank first, according to the judges’ consensus when they conferred. Walters had bad luck, but Nag earned his victory for his tremendous dash at the very finish. The third-place finisher was Sotero Alcantara of the Philippines.
Jawaharlal Nehru, who was the prime minister at the time, commended Nag for becoming the fastest swimmer. The lone first-place finish by an Indian swimmer at Asiad came in the 100m freestyle gold.
Additionally, he won bronze in the 3×100-meter medley and the 4×100-meter freestyle with Bimal Chandra, Isaac Mansoor, and Sambu Saha (with Kanti Shah and Jehangir Naigamwalla).
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