Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
BENGALURU: Decorated with 31 international and 86 national medals, Aaron D’Souza holds 37 national swimming records. But when it comes to the Olympics, national records probably don’t matter — what does is that extra mile, and extra effort swimmers need to put in to represent India on the world’s grandest stage.
Aaron, who clocked his best of 50.97 seconds in 100m freestyle at the 2015 National Games at Thiruvananthapuram, will require that extra effort to make the A-time cut for the Rio Olympics, which is set at 48.99s, and he has to do it before July 3.
Aaron said preparations for Rio were concentrated on his strengths. “100m is very quick, and you barely get time. We’ve figured out a few things to work on, like my opening and back-end speed. But I’m working more on my strengths. I just don’t have enough time to improve my weaknesses,” said the Bengaluru-based swimmer.On coming back from a slip disc, he said, “It took me some time to recover. The World Championships (in Kazan) was my comeback meet. And I missed the B-cut by a fraction of a second. And then, the Senior Nationals (in Rajkot), where competition was close. These events helped me improve my game, and I’ve grown from strength to strength. I’m now set for the Malaysia and Japan Open.”
