Kushagra Rawat, Srihari Nataraj eye Tokyo 2021 berths as India plans to host Olympic qualification event

Star Indian swimmers Kushagra Rawat and Srihari Nataraj will be the top contenders to secure Tokyo Olympic berths as India plans to host the qualifying event in June. The Swimming Federation of India (SFI) has shown interest in hosting the International Swimming Federation (FINA)-approved event.

20-year-old Nataraj and 21-year-old Rawat have already achieved the B qualification mark in the 2019 Olympic qualification cycle. They need to get to the A mark in order to book a spot for Tokyo.

Nataraj has a B qualification time of 54.69s in 100m backstroke, whereas the A qualification time is 53.85s. On the other hand, Rawat has got the B qualification mark for Tokyo Olympics in three freestyle events – 400m, 800m, and 1,500m.

Indian swimmer Sajan Prakash clocked 01:59.31 in 200M butterfly at Latvian Open and 1st Indian swimmer to meet Olympic B qualification time of 01:59.97 after the lockdown.. he had earlier achieved the B qualification in 2019 @KirenRijiju @DGSAI @Media_SAI pic.twitter.com/1s8Vsernfg

— @swimmingfederationofindia (@swimmingfedera1) March 1, 2021

The other four swimmers who have also achieved the B qualification mark are Sajan Prakash, Advait Page, Aryan Makhija, and Virdhawal Khade. Prakash is currently training in Dubai while long-distance specialist Page is presently in the USA. The Auburn University student Makhija is putting in the hard yards to achieve A qualification in 800m freestyle.

'A' qualification mark puts a swimmer directly into Olympics

No Indian swimmer has achieved A qualification time till now, which directly puts them in Olympic Games. It is also to be noted that B qualification time is considered to be a sort of invitation. The swimmers with B qualification mark will only get a chance if the quota places are not filled.

Coming out of the lockdown in his 1st race of the season Indian swimmer Srihari Natarj clocks 0:55.37 in 100 backstroke 10/100th sec faster than the Olympic B qualification time. He had previously clocked a faster B qualification time of 0:54.69 in 2019 @DGSAI @KirenRijiju pic.twitter.com/PclYy0E2sF

— @swimmingfederationofindia (@swimmingfedera1) March 5, 2021

Like any other sporting event, swimming was also hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic due to which several Tokyo 2021 qualification events were cancelled. The situation hasn't improved a lot now, with several countries imposing border closures due to the rising cases and new virus strains.

In countries like Singapore and Thailand, any foreigner will need to serve the mandatory quarantine rule. Thus India is trying to host one of the qualifying events to reduce the traveling and quarantine hassles for the swimmers.

“After seven or 14 days of quarantine it wouldn’t be possible to compete in the pool. Hence we are planning to have one competition on Indian soil,” SFI’s general secretary Monal Chokshi told IANS.

“If the proposed national competition in June gets the world governing body’s sanction, it would enable the country’s elite swimmers a opportunity to compete in an Olympic qualification competition on home soil,” he added.