Srihari Nataraj becomes second Indian swimmer to make ‘A’ cut for Tokyo Olympics
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Srihari Nataraj
Srihari Nataraj scripted history at the the Settecolli Swim Meet as he sealed a berth at the Tokyo Olympics. Nataraj became only the second Indian swimmer in history to make the ‘A’ cut. Nataraj clocked 53.77 seconds in the 100m Backstroke in a time trial to seal an Olympics berth.
Srihari Nataraj has been in great form lately and it was no surprise that he qualified for the Tokyo Olympics. He broke the his own national record in the 100m backstroke at the 2021 Sette Colli Trophy in Rome, Italy. While he had come agonisingly close to sealing an Olympic berth last time around, he did it this time as he went on to rewrite the national record.
The European tour has been extremely successful for Nataraj, who has broke the national record for the third time now in under two weeks. His qualification has come just in the nick of time, today (27th June) being the last date for automatic qualifications for the quadrennial events.
Srihari Nataraj second Indian swimmer to qualify for Tokyo Olympics automatically along with Sajan Prakash
Sajan Prakash scripted history in Rome as he became the first-ever Indian swimmer to make the ‘A’ cut for the Olympics. Sajan made the cut for Tokyo Olympics at the Sette Colli Trophy in Rome. He clocked 1:56.38 in the 200m butterfly event, 0.1ms quicker than the Olympics qualification mark.
This is the first time two Indians have earned automatic qualification for the Olympic Games. Nataraj was all set to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics if no other Indian swimmer would have cleared the Olympic Qualification time before the 27th of June. Sajan, on the other hand, is one of the leading Indian swimmers and was the first Indian swimmer to reach the final in Asian Games after 32 years when he achieved the feat in 2018 in Jakarta.
Also read: Tokyo Olympics: Sajan Prakash Sets Indian National Record
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Anshuman Mahapatra
(1496 Articles Published)