RAJKOT: History seems to have repeated itself. Seven years ago, double Olympian swimmer Sajan Prakash had dominated the National Games in Kerala by claiming an astonishing six gold and three silver medals to be crowned the ‘Best Athlete’ of the Games. It was a superhuman effort from Sajan, the performance giving the Kerala swimmer the confidence to achieve the qualification mark for the Rio 2016 Summer Olympics in the men’s 200m butterfly event.
Participating in his second National Games here in Gujarat, Sajan, the first-ever Indian swimmer to breach the FINA ‘A’ Olympic qualification mark when he clocked the national record time of 1:56.38 in 200m butterfly at the Sette Colli meet in Rome last year, left his fellow competitors in his wake by putting on amemorable show of masterful swimming at the Sardar Patel Aquatics Complex.
Sajan ended his campaign at the Games with five gold, two silver and a bronze in the butterfly, freestyle and medley events to all but seal the ‘Best Athlete’ award for the second successive time. “I am happy to be competing at the Games. It was a sudden but welcome development that the Games were announced, the biggest sporting meet in the country. I am happy with my performance, though I am not in the best of shape. I wanted to compete to see how my body is responding. Winning five gold medals is a good achievement,” he said.
Sajan had missed competition on Monday when he was with the doctors, investigating a pain in his abdominal area during the opening day’s races. “We got a scan done and luckily it was only a muscle issue. I didn’t want to carry an injury from the Games,” he said, indicating that he was conservative here in his approach.
It reflected in Sajan’s timings as well. His winning time of 55.32 seconds in the 100m butterfly final was slower than his own Games record time of 55.03s, let alone his personal best time of 53.24 clocked at last year’s National Championships in Bengaluru or even the 54.14 that he produced in the Danish Open in April this year. Yet, he soldiered on and finished his campaign with a flourish at the Games, securing 400m freestyle and 200m individual medley gold on Friday.
Sajan said that it’s his commitment towards swimming and a desire to come across as the best ambassador for the sport that pushed him to give everything in the pool at the Games. “I have heard that young athletes like Aneesh Gowda have spoken well about me. I am grateful for any positive impact I have been able to make on the young swimmers. Being kind and gracious should become the norm and I want to set a good example to change things around,” added Sajan.
Participating in his second National Games here in Gujarat, Sajan, the first-ever Indian swimmer to breach the FINA ‘A’ Olympic qualification mark when he clocked the national record time of 1:56.38 in 200m butterfly at the Sette Colli meet in Rome last year, left his fellow competitors in his wake by putting on amemorable show of masterful swimming at the Sardar Patel Aquatics Complex.
Sajan ended his campaign at the Games with five gold, two silver and a bronze in the butterfly, freestyle and medley events to all but seal the ‘Best Athlete’ award for the second successive time. “I am happy to be competing at the Games. It was a sudden but welcome development that the Games were announced, the biggest sporting meet in the country. I am happy with my performance, though I am not in the best of shape. I wanted to compete to see how my body is responding. Winning five gold medals is a good achievement,” he said.
Sajan had missed competition on Monday when he was with the doctors, investigating a pain in his abdominal area during the opening day’s races. “We got a scan done and luckily it was only a muscle issue. I didn’t want to carry an injury from the Games,” he said, indicating that he was conservative here in his approach.
It reflected in Sajan’s timings as well. His winning time of 55.32 seconds in the 100m butterfly final was slower than his own Games record time of 55.03s, let alone his personal best time of 53.24 clocked at last year’s National Championships in Bengaluru or even the 54.14 that he produced in the Danish Open in April this year. Yet, he soldiered on and finished his campaign with a flourish at the Games, securing 400m freestyle and 200m individual medley gold on Friday.
Sajan said that it’s his commitment towards swimming and a desire to come across as the best ambassador for the sport that pushed him to give everything in the pool at the Games. “I have heard that young athletes like Aneesh Gowda have spoken well about me. I am grateful for any positive impact I have been able to make on the young swimmers. Being kind and gracious should become the norm and I want to set a good example to change things around,” added Sajan.
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