Srihari Nataraj in action
For the upcoming Commonwealth Games at Birmingham, Sajan Prakash and Srihari Nataraj will lead a four-member Indian swimming team.
The CWG is scheduled for the next month from 28th July to 8th August. Of which the swimming events will be held from 29th July to 3rd August.
Apart from the star duo of Prakash and Nataraj, Delhi's Kushagra Rawat and Madhya Pradesh's Advait Page will make their debuts at the quadrennial event.
The Swimming Federation of India (SFI) had secured four quota places for the 2022 CWG and the national body had announced that swimmers who achieve the sixth position time in their respective events from the 2018 Gold Coast CWG would be considered for the quota slots in this edition.
"In the qualification period of one year Srihari, Sajan, Advait, and Kushagra have clocked the sixth position time from the previous CWG. That is the cut-off standard SFI had set," SFI Secretary-General Monal Chokshi said.
Prakash will be eyeing a maiden medal for India in the 200m butterfly event. He achieved the sixth position time, for the same.
He will also compete in the 50m and 100m butterfly events in what will be his third CWG campaign.
Nataraj, on the other hand, will compete in the 50m, 100m, and 200m backstroke events. It will be the Bengaluru swimmer's first big-ticket event after the Tokyo Olympics as the 21-year-old gave the ongoing World Championships in Budapest a miss.
On the other hand, Kushagra and Advait have qualified for the 1500m freestyle event. The former will also be participating in the 200m and 400m freestyle.
India are yet to win a medal in able-bodied swimming at the Commonwealth Games. Para swimmer Prasanta Karmakar’s 50m freestyle bronze at the 2010 edition remains India’s only CWG medal in the sport.
(Inputs from PTI)
