Maana Patel confident of breaking her own record, again

Indian swimmer Maana Patel is now focussed on breaking barriers after the swimmer set the 'Best Indian Time' in the women's 100m backstroke event at the Mare Nostrum swimming meet's third leg in France.

Maana Patel clocked 1:03.69 to set a new 'Best Indian Time' record. Incidentally, she broke her own record of 1:03.77 in the process.

At the Mare Nostrum swimming meet, the Tokyo Olympian qualified 15th overall to qualify for the 'B' final, where she finished with a time of 1:03:87.

The Mare Nostrum swimming event is held in the Mediterranean region, starting with the first in Monaco before moving to Barcelona and with the final leg being held at Canet en Roussillon in France.

Riding the success wave, Maana Patel is now focussed on bettering her Mare Nostrum timing too.

"I am looking at breaching the 1:02 mark. I am very much positive about it and I know what it takes to get there," Maana said oozing with confidence, in a chat with Sportskeeda.

The confidence Maana Patel carries stems from the rigorous training the swimmer has undergone since the start of her season last month.

"I started off this season in April. I trained hard in the weeks before my competitions. It was in a bid to qualify for the Asian Games which weren't postponed then. I was in good shape after my aerobics sessions, doing tough sets. I put in a lot of effort and was looking forward to racing," the swimmer explained.

Maana Patel overcomes glitches to emerge stronger

Maana Patel's Mare Nostrum swimming tour did not start on a high. A stomach upset meant the swimmer had to pull out of the race just before the start of the event.

"The Monaco meet did not go well. I threw up just before my event as a tablet I had taken on an empty stomach earlier caused a spike in my blood pressure. I was disappointed as I was looking forward to the event. My mindset was good and I felt demotivated after having to pull out of the race," she explained.

However, the young Gujarat-based swimmer was quick to recoup.

The young swimmer was keen to break down the mental barriers a disappointing event could have and surged ahead with an open mind.

"I had a week between Monaco and the France legs. What I did was, I stopped thinking. I realized that when I do not have any expectations from any race, I end up giving it my best," she said.

The focus on the future

The young swimmer has her plans clearly chalked out for the future. With the Asian Games postponed, the swimmer has enough time on her hands to hone her skills, experiment a little and get back to her best.

As with many sportsmen, Maana Patel is confident of getting back into shape in her preparations for a postponed tournament.

"My next is a meet in Singapore at the end of June where I would be focusing on the 200m. The last time I did a 200m event was almost seven years ago. I want to give it a shot and see how it goes. A good 200m definitely improves my 100m also. I can experiment a bit at this stage," she said.

The swimmer went on to add how she was inspired to race in the 200m event after a gap of many years.

"We (Srihari Nataraj and I) were in Istanbul before the Monaco leg. We did a test set of 200m there. I got some wonderful insights from Stefano Nurra. He suggested that I give the 200m a shot soon, as my four sets of 50m each were good. I am going to try and see what happens," Maana Patel concluded.