birmingham ace indian swimmer srihari nataraj qualified for the semifinals of mens 50m backstroke event at the commonwealth games on sundaynataraj clocked 2552 seconds to qualify for his second consecutive semifinals of the games he had also made the 100m backstroke last 16the seasoned sajan prakash on the other hand finished as the first reserve for the 200m butterfly eventthe 21yearold nataraj clocked 2552s to emerge as the second fastest swimmer in his heat and eighth fastest overall his timing was 057s behind pieter coetze of south africa who topped the qualifiershe has a personal best of 2440s in mens 50m backstroke having achieved it at 15th fina world swimming championships last year in uaenataraj had finished seventh in the mens 100m backstroke final on saturday nightin the mens 200m butterfly prakash finished fourth in his heat after clocking 15899s and was put on the reserve list as he was the ninth fastest swimmer overall the top eight move to the finalprakash and kieren pollard from australia clocked the same time leading to a swim offprakash then produced a timing of 15831 to win the swim off between the two to become the first reservein case any one of the eight finalists can not take the pool or withdraw from the final race prakash will take his placeswimoff is a special swimming race in which the winner qualifies for the next level after failing to make it by the usual elimination races