Who is Sajan Prakash? Five things to know about the ace Indian swimmer

Ace Indian swimmer Sajan Prakash had a long-standing dream of breaching the 'A' qualification mark for the Olympics. He fulfilled his dream on Saturday by clocking 1:56:38 seconds in the men’s 200m butterfly event at the Sette Colli Trophy in Rome, Italy.

The qualification standard for the event was pegged at 1:56.48 and it is for the first time that an Indian swimmer secured a direct entry to the Olympics by making a historic 'A' cut.

The multiple-national record holder will now look to produce his best performance at Tokyo 2020. But ahead of the marquee event, let us know a bit more about the leader of the Indian swimming team.

In his genes

Sajan Prakash was born in a small village of Thodupuzha in Idukki. His mother V.J.Shantymol was a national level track and field athlete and also took part in multiple events.

Sajan was a sports enthusiast ever since his childhood. He would play badminton, participate in running events or swim at the facilities available at the Neyveli Lignite Corporation staff quarters. But nearly at the age of 11, he had to make a choice, and Sajan chose swimming due to his flat feet.

Interestingly, he had started swimming at the age of six.

Owes his success to 'godfather' and coach Pradeep Kumar

After laying the foundation of his swimming career in Neyveli Lignite City Swimming Club, he moved to Bangalore to train under Dronacharya awardee S Pradeep Kumar.

The swimming coach is credited to train over 8000 swimmers in India in his career of over three decades and Sajan considers him as his godfather. It is under his coaching that the Kerala-swimmer got his first exposure to national and international events.

He also worked under his long-time coach at Aqua Nation Sports Academy in Dubai to achieve the 'A' cut for the Olympics.

"He'd (Pradeep Kumar) make me do short rest sets, he'd tell me not to breathe with every stroke, as soon as I'd touch the wall he'd say 'go', and it was really hard on me. Slowly, I saw myself grow stronger in the races. I would do simulations in my racing suit, without shaving and tapering. I still managed to clock 1:58. That's when I knew I was up to some good," Sajan told Espn.

FINA scholarship and 2015 National Games record

Sajan has been training at the Thanyapura Aquatic Centre in Thailand where he was under experienced coach Miguel Lopez after earning a scholarship from FINA in 2015.

The FINA Scholarship Programme was launched in 2014 and it offers financial and technical assistance to elite athletes selected by their National Federation. In 2015, FINA expanded the programme to Thailand an Sajan was selected to be in it.

Sajan had hogged the limelight at the 2015 Indian National Games as he clinched a record-six gold and three silver medals. He was also named the best athlete of the 2015 National Games held at Trivandrum, Kerala.

A holder of 11 national records

Sajan holds 11 national records (team and individual) to his name across long and short course events.

It includes the 200m butterfly (1:56.38), 200m individual medley (2:05.83), 4×100m freestyle relay (3:23.72), 4×200m freestyle relay (7:34.50), 4×100m medley relay (3:44.94) among the long course events.

While in the short course events, he holds the national records in: 100m freestyle (49.97), 200m freestlye (1:47.66), 50m butterfly (23.83), 100m butterfly (51.73), 200m butterfly (1:53.20) and 100m individual medley (55.76).

First Indian swimmer to qualify for two Olympics

The 'A' qualification mark for the Olympic achieved by Sajan on Saturday was not his only achievement in Rome. He also became the first and only Indian swimmer to make it to two Olympic Games.

He was the only Indian swimmer at Rio 2016 where he finished on the 28th spot in the heat but targeting to qualify for the finals at Tokyo 2020.

After the pandemic struck in 2020, Sajan moved to Dubai last year to train with Pradeep Kumar again and the move has paid dividends.