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Ullalmath last in 1500m freestyle

Last updated on: August 03, 2012 20:04 IST

India's lone participant in swimming, Gagan Ullalmath finished last in the men's 1,500m freestyle heats at the London Olympics on Friday.

The 20-year-old from Bangalore, who qualified for the Olympics under FINA's strange "universality" clause while four of the country's more fancied swimmers failed to make it to the Games, ended up at the rear in the seven-man heat number one, and his effort of 16:31.14 secs was the worst timing among the 31 swimmers who participated in the events' four heats.

- London Olympics 2012 - Complete coverage

Ullalmath finished the race more than 40 seconds behind the sixth place finisher and more than one minute after the heat winner Arturo Perez Ferrer of Mexico completed the race.

He could not even touch his personal best of 15:59.33s that earned him a silver at the Asian age group championship in Jakarta last year.

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