Sajan Prakash

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Sajan Prakash is an Indian competition swimmer who is specialised in freestyle and butterfly strokes. He is among the most successful swimmers in India who own a series of records in his name. Sajan Prakash swimming in freestyle.He belonged to a sports background family and had a great inclination towards sports since childhood. His inspiration behind his sports fascination was his mother, V.J.Shantymol, who is also a former athlete and has represented India in several national and international events.Initially, Sajan Prakash had interests in various track and field sports, especially running & badminton, but due to his problem of the flat foot, he was not eligible for the track and field events.Sajan then shifted his interest towards swimming and got himself enrolled at the Neyveli Lignite City Swimming Club, Neyveli, Tamil Nadu and started practising there under the mentorship of Saju Sebastien. Soon after he joined the club, the authorities at Neyveli club stopped focusing on swimming athletes and thus his coach advised him to join Basavanagudi Aquatic Centre where he resumed his coaching under his present coach Pradeep Kumar. Sajan gives full credit to his coach Pradeep Kumar for everything he has achieved in his career. During an interview he said, You wont believe it, sometimes I would not want to do it and he makes me do it. That built confidence in our workouts. Sometimes, I felt like not wanting to do anything but Pradeep sir has this magic to make us do it and survive those workouts. And when you are in worse conditions and do it, you gain confidence. When you are fresh and go into a race, it helps you so much..Sajan Prakash used only the freestyle swimming techniques during the initial phase of his career. On his mentors recommendation, he also started learning the butterfly techniques, which was not a piece of cake for him. Sajan in an interview said, I had a 50:50 belief when I first changed from free to fly. At the end of the day, we made it happen. I still do freestyle. I had some issues with my left shoulder where I had no power to pull initially. But slowly I developed strength around the arm and the neck. It is much better..In 2015, FINA, an international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee for administering international competitions in water sports partnership, approached the Swimming Federation of India for sending swimmers from India to train them with 21 aspiring Olympians from the world for the Rio Games 2016. Sajan Prakash became the only one to be selected by the Swimming Federation of India for the program. Sajan proved his skills and made it for the Rio Olympics but was not able to fetch any medal for the country.Sajan Prakash holds a sum of 10 National, 3 South Asian and 1 Asian record to his name.In 2017, Sajan Prakash became a part of a short documentary film, Lane O portraying his own character and showcasing the struggles of swimmers in developing countries.During an interview, when asked about his inspiration in life, he said I learn from my role models and take the good qualities from the people when they do good and also learn from others not to make the same mistakes that others did. It is not necessarily about learning from the greats. Even the common people have been some of my biggest inspirations..On 26 June 2021, Sajan Prakash listed another record under his name, for becoming the first-ever Indian swimmer to earn the A standard of international swimming, clocking 1:56.38 minutes in the 200m butterfly. He also became the first Indian swimmer to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics. After his qualification, he said, I am very emotionally happy because I went through some hardships and obstacles over the last two years. It was as difficult as it could get for me. Many, including some of the people I am closest to, didnt believe that I could do it. Yet, there were friends I consider as family from the swimming fraternity who supported me and believed in me. I think I made them proud with whatever I did last Saturday. I have not felt this happier in my entire life https://youtu.be/BcSY6l8V9Zk.