Back in Ahmedabad from the Tokyo Olympics — Maana Patel (21) — India’s 100m backstroke swimming hope who didn’t make it to the finals or the podium, believes she is richer for the experience and is determined to give a better account of herself in future aquatic championships.

“The quality of training and coaching facilities in India are far behind other countries. My first Olympics experience was somewhat overwhelming. But I am better for it because I got the opportunity to compete with world-class swimmers, a childhood dream. I will definitely come back stronger in the Paris Olympics 2024,” she vows.

Maana is the only child of Rajiv Patel, an equity portfolio manager, and homemaker Aanal who enrolled her in swimming classes when she was eight (2008) to “improve her appetite and make her stronger”. Two summers later, her parents signed her up for professional training under coach Kamlesh Nanavati with whom she rigorously trained for eight years. 

In 2015, Maana was spotted in a talent hunt competition organised by Olympic Gold Quest (OGQ) — a Mumbai-based NGO founded by former world snooker champion Geet Sethi and badminton star Prakash Padukone — to train India’s best athletes to win Olympic medals. Under an OGQ and SAG (Sports Authority of Gujarat) initiative, Maana trained for six months in Australia and another six months in the US. Currently, she is training in Bengaluru under the watchful eye of Dronacharya awardee and national coach Nihar Ameen, for the Asian Games 2022 scheduled to be held in Hangzhou (China) next September.

Although her best 100m backstroke timing of 1:03:77 is way behind the Tokyo Olympic winner Kaylee McKeown’s (Australia) 57.47 seconds, in her 11-year career of competitive swimming in India, Maana has won 73 national and 25 international medals. “My favourite events are the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke in which I hold the national record since 2013. However, I am aware that my best is way behind the new Olympic women’s 100m backstroke record. The fitness and practice routines of the Tokyo Olympics winners were inspirational. I am working on emulating them,” says India’s backstroke sprint champion, who hasn’t given up her quest for international acclaim.

Runa Mukherjee Parikh (Ahmedabad)

Also read: National Sports Day 2019: Women representing India at Olympics 2020