Actor R Madhavan‘s son, Vedaant, failed to find a place in the top 10 heats in the men’s 200m freestyle final at the Asian Games 2026 on Wednesday. Vedaant touched the wall in 1:52.01 to finish 13th overall, but failed to make the cut as only the top 10 fastest swimmers graduated to the final. This is the second consecutive loss for Vedaant who is making his Asian Games debut in Tokyo, Japan. He earlier competed in 4×200 meters freestyle relay with Team India, which took the 9th position and failed to qualify for the final.

Vedaant also shared the sad news on social media. His team finished in 9th position among the 13 teams competing in the heats. Along with Vedaant, the Indian relay team also had Sajan Prakash, Sunil Kumar Gowda, and Dhakshan Shashikumar. R Madhavan also reacted as the team lost the final spot by just two seconds.

R Madhavan reacts as son Vedaant loses at Asian Games 2026

On Wednesday, the proud father shared a photo of the Team India swimmers on social media, calling them ‘treasure hunters’. The actor has been reposting Vedaant’s stories on his social media handle too, and rooting for his son. Unfortunately, after Vedaant lost out on a spot in the men’s freestyle relay swimming finals, Madhavan reshared his story with a folded-hands emoji. On Tuesday, Vedaant also shared a post from the Sports Authority of India on Instagram and wrote, “Missed finals by 0.2 and best Indian by 0.5, 200 free day after.”

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Madhavan reacts to son Vedaant losing final spot at Asian Games

Vedaant will also be participating in 200 meters backstroke on 25th September. Ahead of the Asian Games, Vedaant Madhavan spoke to PTI about how he deals with the attention due to his famous surname: “If you do good, you are in the spotlight; if you don’t, you are not, no matter who you are. I want to do good for myself and my country as a swimmer. I feel that if you want to succeed in life, you have to be kind of egotistical. If you shoot for the stars, you’ll land on the moon. That’s the kind of mindset I like to keep. But there is always a chip on your shoulder, no matter who you are. We are a country of almost 1 billion people, and everyone is watching.”

R Madhavan on his son Vedaant

Earlier this month, during The SS Podcast, R Madhavan had said, “From a very young age, I treated my son Vedaant like an adult. I never mollycoddled him. When Vedaant was five years old, I would ask him for his opinion on what to do. He has grown up knowing that his opinion matters to me. Children will make mistakes, but I don’t want Vedaant to repeat mine. Every day brings a new challenge when it comes to parenting in today’s world. I think I’m a cool dad, but I don’t know if my son believes that or not.”

“Vedaant is very raw and blunt when it comes to reacting to my films. If he likes a film, he praises it a lot. After watching Vikram Vedha, he hugged me. After watching Rocketry, he said, ‘Dad, I’m really proud of you.’ Vedaant watched Dhurandhar with his friends in the US. After watching the trailer, he thought it was extraordinary. I really appreciate his feedback,” R Madhavan added.

 

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About Vedaant Madhavan

Vedaant Madhavan is a professional swimmer; he started training rigorously from the age of 12. He has achieved success in several international swimming competitions. Before the Asian Games 2026, Vedaant won five gold medals at the Malaysia Invitational Age Group Swimming Championships. He also won a gold medal and a silver medal at the Danish Open. He had also secured the fifth spot in the Commonwealth Youth Games a  few months back. Vedaant has often expressed a desire to make a name for himself in the swimming field rather than just be known as R Madhavan’s son.