Ace Sajan Prakash, an Indian swimmer, lost his chance to compete in the Commonwealth Games after failing to go past the quarterfinal round of the men’s 100-meter butterfly event on Monday in Birmingham. Experienced Prakash placed 19th overall and seventh in his heat after clocking 54.36 seconds.
The men’s 100-meter backstroke final had been held on Saturday night, and a Bengaluru swimmer had placed seventh.
Prakash placed fourth in his heat in the men’s 200m butterfly with a time of 1:58:99s and was added to the reserve list since he was the ninth quickest swimmer overall. The final is reached by the top eight.
Australia’s Kieren Pollard and Prakash both recorded the same time, forcing a swim-off. He subsequently turned in a time of 1:58.31 to beat the other competitor in the swim-off and advance to the position of first reserve.
Prakash would have replaced any of the eight finalists who failed to enter the pool or withdrew before the final race.
The top 16 competitors advance to the semifinals. In his other two events, the 50-meter and 200-meter butterfly races, he had also fallen short of the finals. He had disappointingly placed ninth in his favourite event, the men’s 200-meter butterfly, on Sunday.
