India’s star swimming sensation Srihari Nataraj is all set to grab eyeballs at the Khelo India University Games. The youngster who hails from Bangalore has always had a major place for Khelo India in his heart.
“It’ll be the first time I’ll be swimming in front of a home crowd like this. This is not going to be a typical Khelo India for me compared to the last three editions. I’m swimming in a couple of different events this time,” he mentioned in a candid chat with Bridge.
Srihari shared how his preparations for the Khelo India as he revealed how he is going to see this as a training session ahead of his international meet which is more important for him. “I’m not approaching it the same way as I did for the previous editions. I’m three weeks away from an international meet so this is just going to be like a training meet for me, I’m going to do workouts in the morning and racing in the evening,” the star swimmer added.
Srihari Nataraj has been a star as he emerged from the 2019 Khelo India University Games where he swept the floor with 7 golds from the 7 events he participated in.
Srihari recently showed his magic at the French Elite Open Swimming Championships earlier this month where he clocked 55.28seconds and topped the B finals. He will look to carry forward that bright form into the Khelo India University Games.
After winning several international accolades, the 21-year-old swimmer feels that his journey has just started with several top events lined up this year including the Commonwealth and Asian Games. He also had the experience of participating at the Tokyo Olympics last year. But the youngster feels nothing can beat the feeling of performing at home in front of your home crowd.
He also adds how he is all set to feature in a couple of new events which are completely not his forte like the 50m breaststrokes. But Srihari is ready to take up the challenges amongst some top national level breaststrokers.
“It’s a completely new thing for me. Usually, I’m confident but this is just not my event at all, there are some great breaststrokers who will compete in this meet. But that said, I’m always up for a good challenge, so let’s see,” he concluded.
Nataraj will undoubtedly be one of the stars to watch out at the 2022 Khelo Indian University Games that is scheduled to start from 24th April and will run till 3rd March.