Birmingham: Malayalam Olympian Sajan Prakash will participate in Commonwealth Games swimming today. Sajan is competing in the 50, 100 and 200 meter butterfly categories.
Srihari Natarajan will compete in 50,100 and 200m backstroke and Kushagra Rawat in 200, 400 and 1500m freestyle events. This is Sajan Prakash’s third Commonwealth Games in his career.
The Indian swimming team has been competing since the 2006 Melbourne Games. Rehan Poncha, Arjun Muralidharan, Puneeth Rana and Shikha Tandon posted career bests but did not make it to the medal tally. Virdhawal Khade, Sandeep Sejwal, Prashanth Karmarkar and Agneeshwar were dropped in the next games. The players were sent to South Africa, USA and Europe for training. Virdhawal Khade’s best performance was in the semi-finals of the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games. Even though the national record was broken, the Commonwealth Games turned out to be strange.
In the 2014 Games as well, Indian swimmers returned empty-handed. Six people competed for India that day. Three men and two women swam for India at the 2018 Gold Coast Games. Virdhawal Khade, Sajan Prakash, Srihari Natarajan, Vaishnavi Jagtap and Kiran Thak contested. Khade and Natarajan disappointed.
They couldn’t pass the heats. Sajan managed to enter the finals in two of the three events he competed in. Sajan’s butterfly heats will be held at 3 pm. If they qualify, they will compete in the semi-final at 11.30 pm. Srihari’s 100m backstroke heats are at 3 pm and semis at 11.30 am. Kushagra’s 400m freestyle final is also today.
The stage is set
The opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games started at 11.30 pm Indian time last night. The matches will start today. 5000 players from 72 countries will show their talent in 280 matches. The concert by The Destroyers band was the highlight of the opening ceremony. DJ John Daniels’ show with 30,000 fans was also impressive. Javelin throw superstar Neeraj Chopra has been replaced by badminton superstar P.V. Sindhu is the flag of India in March past. 215 players will compete for India in 16 events.
