"I was having 50-50 belief when I started swimming in Dubai that I’d make the Olympics. Strengthening my body and getting mentally strong was my first target to achieve." Coming out of that was a big task for me. I was injured and was not mentally strong. "The first priority for me was to be healthy. The priority was to become physically fit and mentally strong. I was swimming only freestyle and sometimes backstroke, was not pushing at all.
"First three months I couldn’t do a single stroke of butterfly, I wasn’t confident at all because I could feel the pain every time I jumped in the pool. Often considered the most difficult swimming style, the butterfly requires not only good technique but also strong muscles and Sajan, who was still in pain, struggled with it. I could see the progress my coach and his wife also helped me." In August I moved to Dubai, my physio Mr Richard, started helping me. And then the lockdown happened, I was in Thailand and had no physio support. "I took a break till March for four months I was doing rehab. Then I finally went for scans and realised I have the slip disk on my neck C4 C5 C6 that was radiating pain towards my left hand."Īfter completing rehab, right when Sajan was ready to get back into competition mode, the lockdown stalled his progress. "In the SAFF games in Nepal on the day of my event I couldn’t lift my hands. I took painkillers and swam after that I went for many competitions," Sajan told PTI. "The neck pain started during the World Championship in 2019 but I thought it will go away like a miracle. Things escalated soon and at the South Asian Games, he was unable to move his left hand. It all started in 2019 when Sajan felt the pain in his neck but chose to ignore it. It was then that he decided to move to Dubai to train under coach Pradeep Kumar, a decision that empowered him to write a new chapter in Indian swimming. To add to his physical injury, Sajan felt emotionally weak. Stuck in Thailand during the lockdown, Sajan had not been inside a pool for seven to eight months.
The miraculous turnaround began in August 2020. The 27-year-old clocked 1:56:38 seconds in the men's 200m butterfly event at the Sette Colli Trophy in Rome to make the 'A' cut for the Tokyo Games. Not long ago, Sajan Prakash was at his lowest, recovering from a slipped disc in the neck, unable to execute even a single stroke of butterfly and miles away from the self belief that he can make the 'A' cut for the Tokyo Games.Ĭut to the present day, the Keralite is being eulogised for becoming the first ever Indian swimmer to earn a direct qualification for the Olympics. Other Indian swimmers Srihari Nataraj finished 27th in men’s 100m backstroke and Maana Patel was placed 39th in women’s 100m backstroke, failing to match their personal bests in their respective heats on July 25.Follow us on Image Source : INSTAGRAM/SAJANPRAKASH Sajan, aged 27, is the first Indian swimmer to feature in two Olympics. Sajan’s swim was not enough to take him through to the semi-finals and this marks the end of Indian swimmers’ campaign at Tokyo 2020.Įarlier Sajan, swimming his main event 200m butterfly, had clocked 1:57.22 seconds to finish 24th out of 38 participants. China’s Jiajun Sun with a time of 51.74 seconds was the 16th swimmer to qualify. The Olympics record stands in the name of Joseph Schooling of Singapore, who clocked 53.12 seconds to finish 44th.
Dressel’s world record stands at 49.50 seconds. World record holder Caeleb Dressel of the USA was the fastest to qualify with an Olympic record-equalling time of 50.39 seconds. The Indian swimmer’s time was nearly two-tenths slower than his personal best of 53.27s. Swimming in lane 5 of heat 2, Sajan clocked 53.45 seconds to finish 0.06 seconds behind heat topper Abeiku Jackson of Ghana. Only the top 16 advance to the semi-finals. Indian swimmer Sajan Prakash finished 46th out of 55 swimmers in men's 100m butterfly heats to conclude his Olympics campaign at the Tokyo Aquatics Centre on Thursday.
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