Ahmedabad: Athletes who made a name for themselves in the sports world are being remembered on the occasion of the 75th Independence Day celebrations. Among them, swimmer Mana Patel is one of the key players. She started as a Gujarat swimmer and earned a name as an Indian swimmer and she is rightly remembered on this occasion. This power-inspired backstroke swimmer got a direct entry into Tokyo Olympics 2020, meaning her feats earned her automatic elevation.
Mana Patel was born in Ahmedabad on 18 March 2000 to Rajiv Patel and Aanal Patel. She studied commerce at Udgam School for Children in Ahmedabad and graduated from GLS. Her early swimming career started at the swimming centre of Gujarat Vidyapeeth and her coach was Kamlesh Nanavati. After taking up swimming, she trained under coach Nihar Amin at Dolphin Aquatics in Bengaluru. After that, the 22-year-old girl has been trained intensively with Peter Carswell at the international level.
Hailing from Gujarat, Mana Patel, known as the Indian backstroke swimmer, started swimming at the age of seven. At the age of 13, she clocked 2:23.41 seconds in the 200m backstrokes at the 40th Junior National Aquatics Championships in Hyderabad. She broke the national record of 2:26.41 seconds held by Shikha Tandon at the Asian Age Group Championships in Tokyo in August 2009.
Mana has also won gold medals in 50m and 200m backstrokes at the National Games. She also won a gold medal in the 100m backstrokes at the 60th National School Games (2015) and broke the national record. Mana Patel, the first Indian woman swimmer to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, competed in the women's 100m backstroke event.
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The 21-year-old Mana suffered an ankle injury in 2019 and only made a comeback earlier this year. She was selected for Olympic Gold Quest in 2015. She won silver in 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke. Bronze in 50m freestyle; gold four times in 100m freestyle relay; Participated in 100m medley relay 4 times in 12th South Asian Games (2016).
She won 3 gold medals in the 72nd Senior National Aquatic Championship 2018. She won six medals (1 gold, 4 silver, 1 bronze) in the 10th Asian Age-Group Championship-2019 held in Bangalore. As of October 2021, she has won 32 international, and 99 national medals with 31 national records. Apart from backstroke, Mana Patel's prowess in swimming is also seen in freestyle, relay medley and relay freestyle.
She is said to be the fastest Indian backstroker in all age groups. So she was selected as India's first female swimmer in the Olympic gold quest. Mana became the first female swimmer to be selected for the Tokyo Olympics. Mana has won the overall best swimmer award for national meets five times.
She was put into swimming by her mother with the aim of improving her digestion. Mana, who initially performed well, eventually became so passionate about swimming that she started participating in clubs. By the age of 12, she had broken records in three backstroke events. At the age of 13, she broke Olympian Shikha Tandon's 200m backstroke record.
As for her direct entry into the Olympics, on 2 July 2021, she earned automatic qualification for the Tokyo Olympics 2020. The announcement was made by FINA - the international federation that is recognized by the International Olympic Committee. So far it was recommended by the Swimming Federation of India. Thus India got automatic qualification for the Tokyo Olympics as the first Indian female swimmer in the name of Mana Patel. Then our swimmer has become the pride of the country in the moments of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav. Mana is also included in the pride of Independence Day 2022.
