Sajan dreams to take on Micheal Phelps at Rio Olympics

 

  "It will be a dream come true to compete with Michael Phelps, even if it is in the heats," says Sajan Prakash, India's only male swimmer to participate in Rio Olympics. 

It is only a coincidence that Prakash is competing in 200-metre butterfly stroke, a favourite of swimming legend Phelps. "Not many will get a chance to compete with the greatest butterfly swimmer of all time and that too in the final Olympics he will be competing," he says. With a total of 22 Olympic medals including 18 gold, Phelps is the biggest name on the planet when it comes to swimming. 

Sajan Prakash signs autographs at a function held in Thiruvananthapuram

The call to Olympics came as a surprise to Prakash, though he was preparing for the same for the past one year. He was selected after his performance in the qualifying event held in Hong Kong, where he finished at 1:59:69 seconds in 200 m butterfly. Prakash is the first Indian to finish the competition below two minutes. 

 

He is positive to clock 1.58 seconds with some practice but is also aware that he must be able to improve his time as 1.57 seconds to reach at least the semi-finals at Olympics. The young swimmer who won six gold medals at the National Games held at Thiruvananthapuram is looking for a sponsor for training. Government too is not supportive, and it was only on Friday that they handed over a cheque of Rs 10 lakh to him, though it was offered a year ago. 

 

Prakash is working as a railway clerk in the Bengaluru division of South Western Railways.