"As for as the Indian swimmers are concerned, they don't lack in talent but they don't have the opportunity to be consistent.
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Sajan says lack of opportunity is the biggest hurdle for Indians' progress. India will also have a third swimmer, Maana Patel who has made the cut through the ‘Universality quota’ as for the first time India will send three members to take part in the Summer Games. "We worked on small small things going step by step, and with my own dedication, and of my coach, today I've made it."Īfter Sajan, Srihari Nataraj also achieved a direct qualification, when the 20-year-old clocked 53.77 seconds in the men’s 100m backstroke in Rome to make the cut. I had to work on basics so looking to qualify for another Olympics with an A cut, that wasn't the right thing to do and we had to run very short of time," he recalled. "I had to basically start everything from scratch. Rehab followed and his recovery was hit hard by the lockdown as he could not get into the pool after shifting to Thailand.įorget breaching the Olympic A qualification mark of 1:56:48 seconds, it was tough to manage even a stroke in the trickiest butterfly that requires immense muscle power and skill, but he kept at it without paying heed to the criticism around him. Sajan first had signs of the neck injury during the sidelines of the World Championships in Gwangju in July 2019 but it was only at the Nepal South Asian Games in December, scans revealed a slip disc on his neck's C4, C5 and C6 bones. I'm confident to cut down some more time so that will give me a chance to be in the semi-finals and maybe in the final as well," he said. "I'm increasing on some speed because I lack the front hand speed. I'm working on the turns, increasing more distance on that one stroke so that I reach the wall quicker and turn. We have done all the work before the qualifications, it's about working on small things. Sajan said he's working on the turns and trying to cover more distance in one-stroke so as to cut down the timing. With that we could achieve it," he said.Īsked about a realistic target at the Games, he said, "I would say cut down another 0.5 seconds and it's possible in this case and that will take me 1:55:8, something that will surely get me into the semi-finals, and maybe towards the final as well." "It's all the work we did and we tried to stay focussed on our goal and sticking towards our business and not letting any nonsense come inside. I'm 27-year-old and a swimming event like this needs a lot of confidence in you." My friends backed me and I didn't lose hope in myself. "Keeping all that aside, I think the important thing was the support system believed in me. "There were many comments, even before the lockdown that I was old and am not getting any improvements," Sajan said in a virtual interaction organised by SAI. However, the 27-year-old clocked 1:56:38 seconds in the men's 200m butterfly event in Rome to become the first ever Indian swimmer to earn a direct Olympic qualification. Currently, Sajan is training with the Aqua Nation Sports Academy(ANSA) based in Dubai.International swimming body to review 'soul cap' usage As of June 2021, Sajan is the holder of 11 Indian national swimming records in events spanning freestyle, butterfly, medley, and relay categories. He picked gold – his second in two weeks after coming agonizingly close to slashing ‘A’ at Belgrade, Serbia, last week of May 2021. He also represented the nation at the Olympics Games 2016 in the 200 m butterfly. In the 2015 National Games in Kerala, he competed in the butterfly, Men’s freestyle & relay events and set up a record on 8 February 2015 by winning 6 gold and 3 Silver medals and became one of the best athletes of the Indian National Games, held at Trivandrum, Kerala. Sajan Prakash, an Indian Swimmer, is best known to become the first Indian ever to clear the ‘A’ standard of international swimming, clocking 1:56.38 minutes in the 200m butterfly at the 2021 Sette Colli Trophy in Rome, and with this same time, he qualified for the 200 m butterfly event at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.