‘Olympics have taught me a lot’

Four-time national breaststroke champion Sandeep Sejwal says he lacks competition in India

MUMBAI: India flaunted a four-member swimming contingent at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, - the biggest-ever in the country’s Olympic history. One of the four swimmers was Delhi’s Sandeep Sejwal, the four-time national breaststroke champion who represented India in 100m and 200m breaststroke.

The Delhi lad is currently in Mumbai to compete at the All India Inter University Aquatic Championship in his pet events - 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke, his first competition after the Olympics.

Talking about the Olympic experience, Sejwal said, “Beijing taught me a lot. It was great to swim with the best swimmers in the world. There’s only a three-second difference between the world record holder and me, but there are about 35 swimmers filling that void. The level of competition is maddening.”

On the other hand, Sejwal said that the Indian swimming scenario suffers from lack of competition. “I hardly have any tough competitors here. The fastest swimmer after me trails by at least 5-10m, so I lack enough challenges,” he said.

And that’s exactly what happened in the 200m breaststroke event at the Championship in which he lead the second placed swimmer, Arjun JP by a length of 10 metre.
Sejwal began his swimming career with breaststroke and has stuck to it ever since. He believes his kick is powerful, but he lacks enough strength while pulling himself during the stroke.

When asked about his near future, Sejwal said, “I will begin training for the 2010 Commonwealth Games, for which I am hoping big. The Asian Games to be held in the same year will be tough since the current world record holder Kosuke Kitajima will be competing there.”