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. The Keralaite was laid low by a career-threatening neck injury in 2019 and the Covid-19 induced lockdown only made it more challenging for him to qualify for the Olympics as the pools remained close for long.
Sajan ve sajan professional#
For a professional athlete, achieving such scales does not come easy and Prakash is no different who revealed that he alienated himself from all the "nonsense" surrounding him and that self-belief and a great support system played a key role in turning his dream into reality.ĪLSO READ| Judoka Sushila Devi to finetune preparations in Delhi before Tokyo: SAI Sajan Prakash, India's ace swimmer, has realised his dreams of participating at the Summer Games after qualifying for the upcoming Tokyo Olympics.
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