Ace Indian swimmer Srihari Nataraj finished seventh in the men's 100 metres backstroke at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham on Saturday.
Chasing an elusive medal in the able-bodied CWG swimming events, the 21-year-old was fifth in the 50m split but was pushed further back in the tough first lane and finished with a timing of 54.31s.
It was way below his personal best and National record timing of 53.77s that he clocked to seal his Tokyo Olympics quota last year. A repeat of the performance would have landed him a historic gold.
South Africa's 18-year-old Pieter Coetze won the gold medal in 53.78 seconds, England’s Brodie Williams was second in 53.91s and Australian Bradley Woodward took the bronze medal with a timing of 54.06 seconds.
Para swimmer Prasanta Karmakar is the only Indian to have won a swimming medal at the Commonwealth Games, at New Delhi in 2010.
"I'm completely exhausted now. I gave it everything but on this day that's all I had in me," Nataraj said after the race.
At the 50m split, Nataraj had a timing of 26.31s, something that could have "been better" as he said he peaked up in the last 25m but in vain.
"I swam according to my plan, focused on myself. I could have opened the first 50 a little faster. I had a good turn and a good start."
"My third 25m according to the video really was really good, they said I caught up with everyone but in hindsight I could have had the first 50m a bit faster.
"I have a couple of more events and I'll make sure this does not happen. I gave it everything, I had nothing left," Nataraj said, hoping for a better finish in the 50m backstroke.
Nataraj qualified for the final with a time of 54.55 seconds, which was seventh overall.