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.