Swimmers Sajan Prakash, Srihari Nataraj eye 'A' qualification mark for Tokyo Olympics at Uzbekistan Open

Tokyo Olympics hopefuls Sajan Prakash and Srihari Nataraj will return to international competition for the first time following the Covid-19 pandemic at the Uzbekistan Open Swimming Championships in Tashkent. The event, which will serve as an Olympic qualifier, is scheduled to be held between April 12-17.

Olympic 'B' qualifiers Prakash and Nataraj will be eager to attain the 'A' standard qualification mark to ensure direct entry into the Tokyo Olympics. The duo will be joined by national backstroke record holder Manna Patel, Rio Olympian Shivani Kataria and breaststroker Likhit SP, among others.

The 13-member squad will be joined by Dronacharya awardee coaches Pradeep Kumar and Nihar Ameen and former Asian Games medalist Sandeep Sejwal.

Both Prakash & Nataraj have achieved the 'B' cut timing for the Tokyo Olympics

Rio Olympian Prakash was last seen in the pool at the Latvian Open in March 2021 where he finished on top of the podium in the 200m butterfly, clocking 1:59.31s. Short of three minutes to achieve the 'A' cut (1:56:48s), Prakash achieved 'B' cut timings for the Tokyo Olympics in his pet event.

In a recent interview with Sportskeeda, Prakash revealed how the Rio Olympics experience has helped him reassess his approach towards the game.

"Like anybody, the Olympics was my childhood dream which that day came true. It is the biggest meet ever in the world of sports and I was a part of it. I did not know much about the world of swimming earlier. I could see a lot of improvements that could happen after seeing the other swimmers there."

"And I was more interested in learning from them and trying to improve. After seeing those swimmers, I could relate to a lot of the things that my coaches had been telling me which I then wanted to use to improve my own swimming," he stated.

Men's 50m national backstroke champion Nataraj competed at the Swimming Federation of India (SFI) All-India Invitational Swimming Competition last week. The 20-year-old's dominance in the backstroke event was on display as he aced the race to win the title in 25.46 seconds.

Nataraj achieved the 'B' qualification mark in the 100m backstroke last year with a timing of 54.69s at the FINA World Junior Swimming Championships. He will need to bring it down by 0.84 seconds - to 53.85 - in order to meet the 'A' qualification standard for the Tokyo Olympics.

The swimmers have been training at the national camp organized by SFI since January at the TOPS National Centre of Excellence.