Rome: Indian swimmer, Srihari Nataraj has booked his ticket for the Tokyo Olympics 2020. He has been selected for the Olympics after FINA - International Simming Federation - approved his 'A Standard' qualification time.
He had participated in men's 100m backstroke time trial at the Sette Colli Trophy in Rome. Nataraj not only qualified for Tokyo 2020 but also achieved a national record.
In the qualification process, the swimmers do not compete against other swimmers but they try to better the timing than their rivals. Nataraj's qualification was approved on the last day of the Tokyo Olympics qualification. This is the first time that two swimmers from Idia would be taking part in the Olympics as Sajan Prakash has also qualified along with Nataraj.
2018 was an iconic year for Nataraj. In that year, he participated in the Commonwealth Games, Asian Games and also in the Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires in Argentina.
“…Srihari Nataraj Olympic qualification time of 53.77 (seconds) swam in the time trial at the Sette Colli Trophy is affirmed by FINA. SFI had put forward its representation to FINA for this. Srihari joins Sajan Prakash as India’s A qualification entry to Tokyo,” the Swimming Federation of India tweeted.
Earlier, Sajan Prakash too qualified for the Tokyo Olympics 2020.