Srihari Natraj breaches Olympic Qualification Time but Tokyo participation subject to approval

Indian swimmer Srihari Nataraj, on Sunday, breached the 100m backstroke Olympic Qualification Time (OQT) on the sidelines of the Sette Colli Trophy 2021 in Rome, Italy.

However, the 20-year-old Srihari achieved the mark in an out-of-competition race and will need an approval from FINA - the global governing body for swimming - to officially qualify for Tokyo 2020.

On the opening day of the Sette Colli Trophy, the Indian swimmer clocked 53.90 seconds - a national record - to win the 100m backstroke title. But his timing was 0.05 seconds short of the OQT needed to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.

The Indian team in Rome, however, managed to get Srihari Nataraj another time trial on Sunday. The Bengaluru swimmer grabbed it with both hands to clock 53.77 seconds, another national record, to dip under the Olympic qualification mark of 53.85 seconds.

“It will be for FINA to accept the result from the time trial at an approved qualification event,” Monal Chokshi, Secretary General of the Swimming Federation of India (SFI), said.

“It is done routinely at many accredited meets; as in the recent case of the US Olympics team trials for the 400m freestyle event. We are very excited with the ‘A’ cuts achieved by our swimmers and hope this result will be considered by FINA,” he added.

If the approval comes through, Srihari Nataraj will join fellow Indian swimmer Sajan Prakash at the Tokyo Olympics next month.

Earlier this week, the SFI had nominated Srihari Nataraj as India’s representative under the universality quota.

However, with Sajan Prakash qualifying for Tokyo 2020 on Saturday, Srihari Nataraj needed to achieve the OQT at Rome to earn a spot in India’s Olympic contingent.

With India’s leading women’s backstroke swimmer Maana Patel also nominated for the universality quota, India could potentially end up fielding three swimmers at Tokyo 2020 - the most at any Games.