Swimming: After father’s dying final 12 months, CWG finalist Srihari Nataraj discovered solace within the pool

Srihari Nataraj was on the nationwide camp in Bangalore, coaching within the pool, when he was knowledgeable in regards to the passing away of his father final 12 months in January. The swimmer, who lives in Bangalore, drove 23km from the Padukone-Dravid Centre for Excellence to his residence in Malleswaram to be along with his household.

Two days later, nevertheless, he was again on the pool. Swimming was his option to cope with one of many greatest setbacks of his life. “It helped me, gave me something else to put my energy into,” he had mentioned.

He returned with a vengeance, clocking instances which were quicker and breaking boundaries, so far as Indian swimming is worried. Weeks after his father’s dying, Nataraj grew to become the primary Indian to attain the ‘A’ normal qualification for the Olympics.

And, on Friday on the Commonwealth Games, his first main occasion because the Tokyo Games, the 21-year-old certified for the ultimate of the 100m backstroke on the Sandwell Aquatics Centre in Birmingham.

Nataraj locked 54:55 seconds within the semifinals on Friday evening. It was ok for him to safe a fourth place in his race and seventh total, out of the 16 who competed throughout the 2 semifinals. His remaining will happen on Saturday evening in Birmingham, roughly 1.15am India time on Sunday.

Given India’s abysmal file in CWG swimming – the nation’s solely medal got here in Para-Swimming on the Delhi CWG when Prasanta Karmakar gained the bronze – Nataraj’s feat assumes enormous significance. It’ll be his maiden CWG remaining, after being unable to take action in Gold Coast 4 years in the past, the place his senior teammate Sajan Prakash made the reduce for in 200m butterfly remaining and completed eighth.

It’s hardly stunning that Nataraj, thought of to be one in every of India’s best swimmers, finds himself on this place. Introduced to swimming by his mother and father on the age of two, he has gained greater than 100 medals throughout junior and senior nationwide championships in addition to Khelo India occasions since 2010, when he first began competing.

In reality, since 2016, Nataraj has gained 27 gold, seven silver and 4 bronze medals at senior nationwide championships, placing him head and shoulders above the remainder. Add to this, he has already represented the nation in any respect main multi-discipline occasions, has rewritten nationwide data a dozen instances and continues to take Indian swimming to ranges it hadn’t reached earlier than.

Nataraj will compete in lane one, which is considered as one of many slowest lanes together with lane 8, because the swimmers need to cope with waves coming from different lanes in addition to the water bouncing again at them from the pool partitions.

This slight drawback will solely add to his challenges of ending on the rostrum. CWG swimming is usually of very top quality, as was evident on Day 1 of competitors on Friday.

South Africa’s Pieter Coetze was the quickest swimmer throughout each the semifinals, clocking 53.67 seconds. All different swimmers had timings or 54 seconds or past. While it’s anticipated that they’ll all up the pace within the remaining, Nataraj will odor a chance, provided that he has a private finest timing of 53.77 seconds. If profitable, it’ll add to the checklist of many firsts in Indian swimming that Nataraj has already achieved.