Immediately after his race on Saturday, Sajan borrowed a fellow swimmer's phone to call his mother and, over sniffles, shared news of his historic swim. We tend to do little and celebrate early." Everyone else around us is working so much harder. This time, he's hoping to get as far as the finals. "When I stood on the deck in Rio, I realised we are nothing. At Rio 2016, he had finished 28th in the heats. He is the first Indian swimmer to make two editions of the Games. Tokyo will be Sajan's second Olympic appearance. It meant he could no longer get rest in the mornings post intense pool sessions starting at daybreak. Following her visit to Dubai, they took up a room on rent, where power was an infrequent visitor during the day, since the person who sub-letted it from the owner hadn't cleared their dues. In April this year, Sajan, an inspector in Kerala's Special Armed Police, managed to meet his mother, VJ Shantymol, a former track and field athlete, after two years. I can't imagine a coach and his family doing what they did for me." "Dubai is such an expensive city to live in and Pradeep sir was a life-saver, giving me shelter, Gowri aunty took care of my nutrition, and whatever I needed to keep my body going with the injury. Pradeep's wife, Gowri, who'd taken voluntary retirement from her job in a Karnataka bank, then flew to Dubai to pitch in with tending to Sajan's nutritional needs.
That's when I knew I was up to some good."
I would do simulations in my racing suit, without shaving and tapering. Slowly, I saw myself grow stronger in the races. "He'd 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. It's the merciless sessions by coach Pradeep that Sajan believes carried him into history. We went back to beginner levels."Īfter a laboured start, came the "nasty workouts".
In training, we had to start really slow because there was a chance his injury might worsen. When I saw him, I realised that more than his body, his mind needed care and attention. Then, we thought it would be best if he stayed back. "There was a batch of elite Indian swimmers who were coming over to our facility in Dubai for training, Sajan too travelled from Thailand. "Sajan's coach in Thailand got in touch with me to say that he wasn't in great mental shape because of the injuries he'd been struggling with," says Pradeep. He then found deliverance in long-time coach Pradeep Kumar, who welcomed him into the Aqua Nation Sports Academy, and his home, in Dubai. Returning to India, where his physiotherapist was based, was a no-go since pools were not allowed to open up even after the lockdown was lifted. Training at the Thanyapura Aquatic Centre on a FINA scholarship, the only option was to wait it out until things got better. After the pandemic broke last year, pools were shut and Sajan was confined to his hostel room in Phuket, Thailand. To get here, the swimmer from Kerala has been to hell and back. "When I saw it flash on the board, I was in tears." This is the first time an Indian swimmer has managed to make the Games 'A' mark. The qualifying standard for the event was pegged at 1:56.48. On Saturday, the 26-year-old clocked 1:56.38 in the 200m butterfly event at the Sette Colli Trophy in Rome to glide into automatic qualification for the Tokyo Olympics. Over the past year and a half, Sajan Prakash has shifted base between countries, missed training for five months, fought a slipped disc in the neck, a shoulder injury, survived with intermittent electricity in peak Dubai summer, and yet found something to top it all - a historic 'A' cut. History maker Sajan Prakash: 'I think I'll pass out from the joy'
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