Will be trying for gold in all events, says Srihari Nataraj ahead of Asian Age Group Championships

Despite breaking his own national records in 50m and 200m backstroke at the World Championships last week, Nataraj has been waiting for the Olympic qualification ‘B’ mark. And with India hosting the championship that would be offering a berth in the Tokyo 2020 Games, this would definitely be the best chance for Indian swimmer.

“This is a great opportunity for Indian swimmers to win medals (at the Asian level) and garner more support for swimming in the country. I will be trying for gold in all my events and make use of the home advantage,” Srihari said, reported HT.

“At the recent World Championships, I improved my personal best in 50m (25.83) and 200m (2:02.08) backstroke, slashing my own national records and clocked 55.55 in 100m. Though I could not achieve my goal of securing the A Qualification mark for Olympics, I believe there are quite a few opportunities coming up and I am confident of achieving the mark,” he added.

Advertised as the largest aquatic event in Asia which India is hosting after 20 years, the nine-day spectacle would be held from September 24 to October 2  and have over 1,200 swimmers from 40 countries competing in four different aquatic disciplines—swimming, diving, water polo and artistic swimming.

The Indian contingent would be including the likes of Olympians Virdhawal Khade, Sajan Prakash, and Shivani Kataria, sprinter Anshul Kothari, national record holder in breaststroke SP Likith, freestyle specialist Khushagra Rawat in open category. The junior categories have Kenisha Gupta, Kushi Dinesh, Suvana C Baskar, Tanish George Mathew, Sanjay CJ and Riddhima Virendra.

The last time India had hosted this event was back in 1999. But, the athletes would take inspiration from their performances in the previous edition in 2017, where the swimmers won 40 medals (5 gold, 13 silver and 22 bronze), while in diving they came home with three gold, two silver and three bronze.