Indian swimmer Srihari Nataraj books Olympics berth amid pool of problems

Swimmer Srihari Nataraj. Pic/AFP

His training was disrupted again and again by the Covid-19 enforced lockdown but the ace Indian swimmer Srihari Nataraj remained as cool as a cucumber, confident that he would breach the elusive ‘A' standard to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.

Nataraj wasn't able to enter a swimming pool form mid-March till September, when a two-month national camp was arranged in Dubai last year. On returning home, the restrictions were eased out and he resumed training in Bangalore but whenever there was a spike in Covid-19 cases in the state, the swimming pools became the first casualties.

FINA approves qualification

However, Nataraj, 20, took it in stride and on Wednesday he "officially" booked his berth for the Tokyo Games, after FINA, the world body for aquatics, approved his ‘A' standard qualification time in the men's 100m backstroke time trial at the Sette Colli Trophy in Rome.

"Nataraj Olympic qualification time of 53.77 [seconds] swam in the time trial at the Sette Colli Trophy is affirmed by FINA. SFI had put forward its representation to FINA for this. Srihari joins Sajan Prakash as India's A qualification entry to Tokyo," the Swimming Federation of India tweeted.

Nataraj's feat came on Sunday and was also a new national record besides being enough to achieve the ‘A' mark for the Tokyo Games set at 53.85 seconds. "The lockdown did affect a lot, starting earlier could have made a big difference. But there was a reason why it was on and I had no control over that and there's no point in looking back," Nataraj said.

"I just kept waiting, trying to keep looking to the future and be patient." Asked if there were times during the lockdown when he doubted himself, felt he couldn't make the ‘A' standard Nataraj's reply was quick: "Not once."

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Hard work paid off

But Nataraj, only the second Indian swimmer and youngest to earn a direct Olympic qualification, had to work hard for it. "For me to drop time in the past six months, I know what it has taken. I have never worked out this much."

In his time away from the pool, Nataraj, self-admittedly, enjoyed his time away from the pool. "I was enjoying my freedom too much because I never got a day off before. I didn't completely slack but I put on some weight and lost some muscle. But once I got back into the pool it was a lot different as I started burning calories a lot more with double sessions and things like that."

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