Birmingham 2022: Sajan Prakash and Srihari Nataraj to lead Indian swimming challenge at Commonwealth Games

Bengaluru, June 25: Swimming stars Sajan Prakash and Srihari Nataraj will hope to set the pool ablaze as they are all set to lead a four-member Indian swimming team at the Commonwealth Games (CWG) to be held from July 28 to August 8 at Birmingham, UK.

Apart from Prakash and Nataraj, fast-rising Delhi swimmer Kushagra Rawat and Madhya Pradesh's Advait Page will be making their debuts at the quadrennial extravaganza.

The Swimming Federation of India (SFI) had secured four quota places for the 2022 CWG and the national body had announced that swimmers who achieve the sixth position time in their respective events from the 2018 Gold Coast CWG would be considered for the quota slots in this edition.

"In the qualification period of one year Srihari, Sajan, Advait and Kushagra have clocked the sixth position time from the previous CWG. That is the cut off standard SFI had set," SFI Secretary General Monal Chokshi told PTI news agency.

The seasoned Prakash will be in search of a maiden medal for India in the 200M butterfly event, for which he achieved the sixth position time. Additionally, he will compete in the 50M and 100M butterfly events in what will be his his third CWG campaign.

Nataraj, on the other hand, will compete in the 50M, 100M and 200M backstroke events. It will be the Bengaluru swimmer's first big ticket event after the Tokyo Olympics as the 21-year-old gave the ongoing World Championships in Budapest a miss.

Kushagra and Advait have qualified for the 1,500M freestyle event. The former will also be participating in the 200M and 400M freestyle.

The swimming events are scheduled to be held from July 29 to August 3. India are yet to win a medal in able-bodied swimming at the Commonwealth Games.

Para swimmer Prasanta Karmakar's 50M freestyle bronze at the 2010 edition in New Delhi remains India's only CWG medal in the sport.

(With inputs from PTI)