Ace swimmer Sajan Prakash clinches gold but misses out Olympic berth by 1.32 sec

Tashkent, April 14: India's ace swimmer Sajan Prakash grabbed the gold in the 200m butterfly event at the Uzbekistan Open Championship, but he could not be able to book a berth in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday.

 

 

 

 

The Kerala swimmer, who has already achieved the Olympics 'B' mark in the 200m butterfly, clocked 1.57.85s to bag the top honours in the Olympic qualifying event. His timing, however, was 1.32 seconds short of the Olympic Qualifying Time (A standard) of 1:56.48.

 

Prakash was last seen in the pool at the Latvian Open last month where he finished on top of the podium in the 200m butterfly, clocking 1:59.31s. The 27-year-old, who has been constantly improving his timing, is optimistic about breaching the elusive mark.

 

 

“It was a good race. I could see some improvements from what I did at the Lativian meet a few weeks back,” Sajan Prakash told the Olympic Channel over the phone from Tashkent. "I am returning from a shoulder injury, so I don’t want to push myself much. I am trying to improve gradually and I hope by the time the Olympics approaches, I will be at my peak," he said.

 

The Indian international is set to compete in a few meets in Europe before heading home for the Senior National Championships which are likely to be held just before the Olympic qualification window shuts on June 27.

 

Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) development group swimmer Kenisha Gupta won the other gold of the day for India. Competing in the women's 100m freestyle event, Kenisha clocked 57.42 while the seasoned Shivani Kataria bagged the bronze medal with an effort of 59.62s.

 

In the men's 100m freestyle event, Anand AS (51.95s) won the bronze medal while Adhithya D (52.07s) finished fourth. Both swimmers registered their personal best timings.