Maana Patel becomes first Indian female swimmer to qualify for Tokyo Olympics

New Delhi: Indian swimmer Maana Patel created a new history by becoming the first Indian female swimmer to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics under the university quota. She is the third Indian swimmer to bag the Olympic berth. Earlier Srihari Nataraj and Sajan Prakash have earned the automatic qualification (A time) for the Olympics.

‘Many congratulations to backstroke swimmer Maana Patel who becomes the 1st female and 3rd Indian swimmer to qualify for #TokyoOlympics Patel qualified through universality quota. #Cheer4India,’ Sports Authority of India (SAI) tweeted.

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‘Backstroke swimmer Maana Patel has become the 1st female and 3rd Indian swimmer to qualify for #Tokyo2020. I congratulate Maana, who qualified through Universality Quota. Well done!!,’ tweeted Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju.

Patel had won gold medals in 50 backstroke and 200 metre backstroke at the National Games. She also bagged gold in 100 metre backstroke at the 60th National School Games (2015) breaking the national record in backstroke.

#Cheer4India in #TokyoOlympics #Tokyo2020

— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) July 2, 2021