Having realised her dream of representing India at the Olympics, Maana Patel has set her sights on becoming the first Indian woman swimmer in 17 years to compete at the Asian Games later this year.
Shikha Tandon was the last woman swimmer to have represented India at the Asian Games — in 2006 Doha edition.
Maana, who was the only woman swimmer representing India at the Tokyo Olympics after gaining a universality quota place, wants to end the 17-year wait for a female swimmer from the country at the continental event scheduled to take place in Hangzhou, China from September 23. "No woman has competed in Asian Games since 2006. My aim right now is to do well at the Asian Games qualifiers," Maana said.
"I have secured 8th place for the 200m backstroke but my aim is to qualify for sixth position and go in with a faster time."
The 23-year-old has already breached the eighth place qualifying time set by the Swimming Federation of India (SFI) and is looking to shave off a few more seconds to make the sixth place cut.
SFI has set a time better than the sixth-place finisher of the last Asian Games for selection for the Hangzhou Asian Games.
Maana enjoyed a good run at the Senior National Aquatic Championships last year, winning four gold and two bronze medals. She followed that up with three gold, two silver and one bronze medal at the National Games.
During the off season, she underwent twin surgeries in October — a tonsillectomy and deviated nasal septum surgery.
Competing in her first meet since the surgeries, Maana clinched the silver medal in the 50m and 100m backstroke events at the Singapore National Age Group Championship last month.