India’s Maana Patel became the first female and only the third swimmer from the country to punch her Tokyo Olympics 2021 ticket. Patel, a backstroke simmer from Ahmedabad, joins Srihari Nataraj and Sajan Prakash to have qualified for the event and secured a direct entry.
Maana will compete in the women’s 100m backstroke event while Sajan Prakash and Srihari Nataraj will take part in the 200m butterfly and 100m backstroke races respectively after both breached the Olympic ‘A’ mark at the Sette Colli Trophy in Rome last month.
Patel, 21, is a decorated athlete having won gold medals in 50m backstroke and 200 metre backstroke also at the National Games. She also clinched gold in 100 metre backstroke at the 60th National School Games (2015) breaking the national record in backstroke.
