Bengaluru: It takes close to four hours to fly from Hong Kong to Phuket. For many that is a long flight in itself, but for Sajan Prakash it felt like an eternity. Time, after all, is relative and as enigmatic as it is strange.
The 22-year-old had heard a life-changing news just before he boarded the plane: he was selected to represent the country at Rio and it were anxious and isolated four hours for the swimmer.
The Kerala-born swimmer clocked the ‘B’ qualification in 200m butterfly, 400m and 800m freestyle events but will be representing India in the former. With his mother, V.J. Shantymol, being a former track and field athlete who represented India at international events but failed to live her Olympic dream, Prakash, a Railway employee, is aware of the honour and responsibility bestowed upon him.
“I feel I should at least enter the semifinals. That will be the first time in India’s history that someone would have reached semis,” he says, with the hope of competing against his idol Michael Phelps etched firmly in his mind.
