Sajan Prakash scripts history, becomes first-ever Indian swimmer to make Olympic 'A' cut

In a proud moment for India, Sajan Prakash on Saturday became the first-ever Indian swimmer to qualify for the Olympic Games (Tokyo Olympics) by breaching the 'A' standard time, clocking 1:56:38 seconds in the men's 200m butterfly event at the Sette Colli Trophy in Rome, Italy. The Games 'A' standard was set at 1:56.48 seconds and the 27-year-old, Sajan Prakash completed the run 0.10 seconds faster at the FINA-accredited Olympic qualifier.

Sports Authority of India (SAI) on its Twitter handle congratulated the Kerala-based swimmer and wrote:

In fact, Kiren Rijiju, the Union Minister for Youth Affairs and Sports congratulated the swimmer and hailed the "commitment" of Sajan. Kiren Rijiju on his Twitter shared the picture of Sajan Prakash and wrote:

Sajan Prakash breaks his own national record

Sajan Prakash also broke his own national record of 1:56.96s that he had set last week at the Belgrade Trophy swimming competition. This will be Prakash's second successive Olympics, having represented India in the 2016 Rio Games. He will take part in the Tokyo Games alongside Maana Patel, who has been nominated by the Swimming Federation of India for the Universality places.

Sajan Prakash's direct qualification means Srihari Nataraj, who missed the 'A' the 100m men's backstroke by 0.05s in Rome on Friday, will not be competing in the Tokyo Olympics despite being nominated for the Universality places. Star Indian swimmer Srihari Nataraj came agonisingly close to achieving the elusive Olympic qualification time in the 100m men's backstroke event before falling short of the mark at the Sette Colli Trophy in Rome, Italy on Friday.

Notably, the Universality quota allows one male and one female competitor from a country to participate in the Olympics, provided no other swimmer from the same gender qualifies for the Games or receives a FINA invite based on his or her Olympic Selection time (B time).

It was a good day for the Indian swimming team as swimmer Kenisha Gupta also created a national record. The Mumbai swimmer clocked 57.35 seconds in the 100m freestyle event at the Rome event.

(Image Credits: Twitter-@Swim_Sajan/@Media_SAI)

(Story Inputs: PTI)