Swimmer Sajan strikes gold in Denmark

New Delhi, April 16

Top Indian swimmer Sajan Prakash began his season on a winning note by clinching the men’s 200m butterfly gold at the Danish Open in Copenhagen. Competing in his first international meet this year, Prakash stopped the clock at 1 minute, 59.27 seconds to stand atop the podium. Earlier, the Kerala swimmer, who trains in Dubai under coach Pradeep Kumar, had clocked 2.03.67 in the heats to qualify for the ‘A’ final. However, the performance was not even close to the 28-year-old’s personal best timing of 1:56:38 that came last year in Rome, when Prakash become the first Indian swimmer to breach the Olympics ‘A’ standard time.

“We have some competitions coming up this month. It is a preparation meet, we will slowly try to peak towards the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games,” Prakash, a two-time Olympian, said.

Teenager Vedaant Madhavan also began on a positive note as he improved his personal best time to bag the silver medal in the men’s 1,500m freestyle event.

Vedaant, son of Indian actor R Madhavan, clocked 15.57.86 to finish second in the 10-swimmer final.

The 16-year-old, who had won a bronze medal at the Latvia Open in March 2021, had also impressed at the Junior National Aquatic Championships last year, bagging seven medals — four silver and three bronze. Shakthi Balakrishnan finished second in the ‘B’ final and eighth overall in the women’s 400m medley with a timing of 5:10:71. — Agencies