Srihari presses reset button to chase Paris qualification

Bengaluru swimmer doesn't want to leave qualification until late after the scramble to make it to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics

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The moment he was done with his final event at the Goa National Games in November, from where he walked away with eight gold medals and the best male athlete tag, swimmer Srihari Nataraj did not want to go anywhere near a pool.

The 22-year-old from Bengaluru did not for a large part of the next six weeks, the longest time he has spent away from the pool since he took to swimming full-time.

Physically, he was "dead", the backstroke specialist said. Mentally, "it was a long and tough couple of years" featuring a creditable 2022 Commonwealth Games (he made the 50m and 100m backstroke finals and lowered his 200m backstroke national record) and a below-par Asian Games last year (he rewrote the 200m freestyle national record but finished 6th in 50m and 100m backstroke finals, his favoured events where he had hoped to medal).