The Indian swimming delegation had a tough day at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, with former Olympian Sajan Prakash and the debutant Aneesh Gowda failing to make the finals for men's 200m freestyle. Sajan, who's been an Olympian for two years, was fifth on his way down and 20th in the race with a 1:51.99 seconds time. This was far short of his personal best and the national record of 1:46.61 seconds, and his performance has not been good at the Games so far where he has failed to achieve his career-best times in both the 50m and 200m butterfly events.
Sajan was also on the sidelines next to young debutant Aneesh Gowda, who had also a good shot at the medal but he failed to qualify among the fastest eight swimmers to go to the medal round. Gowda finished 18th overall with a time of 1:51.64 seconds, a slight improvement from his previous time of 1:51.88 seconds. But the blistering pace of the international elite was too much of a barrier for England's James Guy who won the qualification heats with a blistering time of 1:45.69 seconds and came next to England's Thomas Dean as the slowest finalist with 1:47.46 seconds.
Despite the bad news about the able-bodied swimming categories, the Indian camp is getting great encouragement for their team and medal hope with the para-swimming. Chaitanya Vishwas Kulkarni and Suyash Narayan Jadhav proved strong to make it to the finals in the men's S7 50m freestyle event. Kulkarni was fourth in his heats with 32.77 seconds and Jadhav won sixth place in the final with 35.35 seconds. S7 refers to the athletes with limited leg function and both Indian swimmers will have their chance to shine in the medal clash.
As swimming events progress in Glasgow, the spotlight now rests on Jadhav and Kulkarni as they go for a historic podium. The nation is in no doubt about Prasanta Karmakar's historic achievement of becoming the only Indian para-swimmer who ever got a medal in the Commonwealth Games, a medal in the 50m freestyle S9 para at the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games. The final day is upon us and the Indian para-swimmers are on the verge of the national stage to achieve the same goal.
