FINA has confirmed a universality invite for India swimmer Maana Patel to compete at the Tokyo Olympics in the womens’ 100 meter backstroke, which will give the country a three-swimmer team for the Games, which begin later this month.
She will join the country’s two male qualifiers, Sajan Prakash and Srihari Nataraj, in what will be the country’s largest Olympic swimming contingent since 2008, when four swimmers qualified.
At each of the last two Olympic Games, in 2012 and 2016, India has sent only Universality swimmers to the Olympics. Prakash and Nataraj, however, made big breakthroughs late in the qualifying period to hit FINA “A” standards and earn automatic invites to the Games.
At the Sette Colli Trophy in Italy, which came on the last weekend of Olympic qualifying, Prakash became the first Indian swimmer to ever register an Olympic ‘A’ cut when he swam 1:56.38 in the 200 fly. That time also broke the Indian Record in the event, and cut half-a-second off his previous best time.
That was actually the second time in June he had broken the record. In total, he dropped almost a second-and-a-half off his own national record in the month of June.
The FINA ‘A” standard in the event is 1:56.48.
The very next day, at the same meet, Srihari Nataraj became the second Indian swimmer to ever hit the FINA “A” cut when he swam a 53.77 in the 100 backstroke. That undercut his previous best time of 54.07 – though the 54.07 won’t officially go on his record because it came at the Uzbekistan National Championships. The results of that meet were eventually thrown out after evidence arose that the Uzbek federation falsified times.
The men’s 100 back ‘A’ standard is 53.85.
No Indian swimmer has ever advanced from the prelims in any event at the Olympic Games. Both Prakash’s and Nataraj’s times from the Sette Colli Trophy would have earned a spot in the semifinals at the 2019 World Championships.
While the country had two men under the “A” standard, they still had to rely on the Universality program for Patel’s qualification as the only woman on the team.
She will race the 100 backstroke at the Olympics. She is the India National Record holder in the 50, 100, and 200 backstrokes in long course. The 50 and 200 were both done in 2015, when she was only 15 years old, but her breakthrough in the 100 back came in June when she swam 1:03.77.
The FINA ‘B’ standard in the women’s 100 back is 1:02.06 and the ‘A’ standard is 1:00.25.
The swimming portion of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games will take place from July 24 to August 1.
The event Prakash registered the Olympic A cut was never mentioned in the article:
“At the Sette Colli Trophy in Italy, which came on the last weekend of Olympic qualifying, Prakash became the first Indian swimmer to ever register an Olympic ‘A’ cut when he swam 1:56.38. That time also broke the Indian Record in the event, and cut half-a-second off his previous best time.
That was actually the second time in June he had broken the record. In total, he dropped almost a second-and-a-half off his own national record in the month of June.
The FINA ‘A” standard in the event is 1:56.48.”
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3 in a billion literally! there is a lot of room for improvement
India could be one of the next great recruiting hotbeds for NCAA teams. The population base and desire for higher education in the US could create an incredible pipeline.
Advaith Page who achieved a B swims in the NCAA. There are already a number of women swimmers who are in college and who have swum in the NCAA over the years.
Shame they don’t have enough for a Mixed medley 🙁
Even if they had another female, they didn’t qualify for that relay
Can Likith get an honorary spot on the team?
Completely agree with this idea. Since B times are virtually useless and the Universality places are given higher priority in the selection process, the pressure to produce A times in a developing swimming program is huge. Likith stood up for the idea of fair play which symbolises the Olympic spirit. I can only think this would be a call for FINA or IOC and it would encourage others to come forward as well. It can only be good for the sport.
I like the Universality program…but I think it should be shrunk a little to the benefit of higher-ranked “B” standard swimmers.
Without the Universality program, some countries would have no athletes in Tokyo. For ex. Marshall Islands is only sending its 2 swimmers to the games.
The Universality clause definitely makes it possible for countries to send swimmers to the Games and inspire the next generation of swimmers. In the case of India in the past Games there were multiple B cuts but none made the Olympic list and only two were sent.
In that background what Sajan Prakash did was simply brilliant. To dig in deep .and produce a great swim after India had already nominated their Universality Swimmers.
Hope it weans India off the dependency on the Universality clause.
Until 2008 countries could send 1 entry per event if the swimmers made the B cut.
That was possibly more clear to the athletes in terms of a target.
If the issue is… Read more »
he’s the 200 breast WR holder… i honestly don’t know why he hasn’t been offered one already
That’ a deep one. Only those who followed the reports may get it.