From contemplating quitting the sport to making a comeback to revive his career, 31-year-old Olympian swimmer Sajan Prakash, a multiple South Asian Games and National Games gold medallist, is planning to pace up slowly and steadily in the run-up to the Asian championships in October and the Asian Games next year.
Competing in the 78th National aquatics championships at the Kalinga Stadium Aquatic Centre here, Sajan
spoke to The Hindu about his struggles, his future and the overall state of swimming in India. Excerpts:
How has your form been of late and what are the championships you are looking at in the next six months?
After the Olympic qualification, I took a six-month break. I was just deciding whether to swim any more. I barely trained for a month and had a lot of travel before the National Games. I made some kind of progress in the National Games without training. I decided just to continue and trained at the Inspire Institute of Sport (IIS) in Vijayanagar.
I started training in February. I went for the Mare Nostrum Tour (Barcelona) in May. And then I made good progress and prepared for this competition.
I am going to the World Police Games, which is right after the Nationals. And then the World championships in Singapore and the Asian championships in Ahmedabad this year (are there). So that’s what I am focusing on.
Are you not thinking about 2026 (which has the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games)?
2026 is the ultimate target, (a) long-term (one). Three competitions are lined up after this. The Asian championships is the main one in Gujarat. So, I will focus on that. That will be giving me an idea of how close I am to a medal in the Asian Games next year.
What will be the key events for you in the Asian Games?
200m butterfly is the main event (for me). I have been swimming 200m butterfly since 2012. In 2016, I went to the Olympics in 200m butterfly. In 2024, I tried to qualify in the 200m butterfly.
What are your targets and how do you approach it?
I want to get back to my best time – 1:56.38. If I get that time or closer to that, I might win a medal in the Asian championships. And from there, I need to work very specifically on the details where I am lacking. I just don’t want to do too many general things any more. So, 1:56 is my target for now at the Asian championships. In the Asian Games, I have to swim 1:55 to get a medal.
Why are you just looking at events in the short-term, like three months, six months, instead of looking forward to a year or two?
I have been swimming for a long time but that’s okay. I don’t see it as the end of my career. I just want to give my best every time I go there. It’s a process, so I will just enjoy the process for now. The Asian Games is the last I kept for. But let’s see if I can go till there or beyond that.
What are the challenges when you have been swimming for so long?
One is the injury (especially when) we don’t have a long-term athlete development programme here. Right now the Federation (Swimming Federation of India) is building one. We somehow survived.
We swam for the job first and then to make our life better. Ultimately, we made it to the Olympics and then started to progress and proceeded professionally. I don’t want to give so many answers to myself because it adds pressure.
I will just enjoy the process for now and see where it takes me. Among the challenges, one is the injury. Another one is the support from anybody (sponsor). We really need to ask for money from different people to fund our training and competitions.
That’s a huge challenge. I was training in Dubai and I paid a lot in the last four years. Go Sports was one support, but now IIS is taking care of it. Wherever we want to go for a training camp, we stay there at the centre and train. So that’s a big support for now.
For a layman, swimming may look like an inexpensive sport, but actually it is not so. So how do you address the issue?
The development of the sport is not there. For everyone, it’s an expensive sport. Buying a swimsuit, having so much daily expenses for the nutrition, for the swimming club or the day to day activities, supplements or whatsoever, it is very expensive.
I survived through it. When I started professionally, I didn’t have enough money. My mother supported me. And then slowly when I started performing somewhere or the other, I got funds. All the cash awards which I got from Kerala for the National Games (performances) mainly supported my swimming.
You are a National Games hero…
The National Games money helped a lot for training days. I wish more corporates come into swimming and look at its development. Because it’s a huge sport where the potential for medals is so much. Nobody looks at it.
There should be some coaches’ development programmes, which we are doing. But if we need to match the world standards, we need to do three times more.
We are going to host the Asian championships for the first time. How do you look at it? And how is it going to help Indian swimmers?
Any competition coming home is an added advantage for us. People, federation or the Government take it a little more seriously. From that period, I think, the seriousness needs to carry on till the major games. We need to have a long-term plan, we need to have a national centre. I believe they are doing it. We need to all train together and work consistently.
We need to address all that and put everyone in one centre and train.
You said you thought of quitting sometime back. Why was it?
One was injury. And I was also unable to support my swimming. It costs me a lot when I want to go train somewhere outside. And funding is a huge problem. After a certain point or age, you don’t get so much support from the Government also. We are not included in any scheme in Khelo India or anything. Or Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS). So it is a challenge for us. We survive somehow, that’s all.
What about the talent in India?
The talent is there, but it is about who nurtures it and how we nurture it. We need more specificity and individualisation on what we are swimming, how we are swimming, monitor the training plans, and see the progress. We need to address their weaknesses individually because everybody has their strengths and weaknesses. So we need to address what is negative and make them positive. Those things come from having a professional on the board. Those things will bring about a change.
What about coaching? Do you think there are enough good coaches?
Our coaches work really hard. But we need to be updated on the current scientific support. It is not rocket science. We can’t take challenges from the USA and address them in India. We need to address the problem which is here. That’s why I said we need to have a National training centre. We must consistently train at one place so that we can have a track record of what is and what is not happening.
Nutrition has to change here. Because we are a carb-eating nation and we cannot keep doing this. If we need to change something, we need to really change everything. The mindset has to change.
People are not very realistic with sports. Even parents look at it as a business — invest in something. If I train for one month, what am I getting from that?
Sports has to be a lifestyle. Not just a result-oriented model.