National Shooting Championships in December last year,
Srihari is broken his 100-meter backstroke on the national register while
winning the six gold and a silver medal at the Khelo India School Games. Srihari says that his participation in the Khelo India is a
part of his training ahead of the Common Wealth Games. “I was aiming for a
56.50 finish since I am preparing for the Youth Olympic Games in the Buenos
Aires and the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast,” Srihari has said after
clocking 56.90 seconds in the 100m backstroke to improving on his National
record of 56.99 which he was clocking in the Tashkent last year.
Srihari was starting swimming when he was about two years
old. A handful of his mother, the toddler, was sent to a swimming pool with his
elder brother so that the house stays for at least a couple of the hours. It is
not long before Srihari got addicting to the underwater moves and swimming is
turning into his passion. “It is a race against the clock, and I want to do my
best,” says the 17-year-old Srihari.
Manu, on the other hand, taking to shooting just a little
over two years ago and has a consistency which is performing well in the global
and domestic tournaments. The 16-year-old won double gold in her maiden senior
World Cup in Mexico before bagging the three gold medals at the ISSF junior
World Cup to emerging as a medal contender for India at the Common Wealth Games
that is starting from April 4. It is remarkable how quickly she has acquired a
reputation as a formidable shooter. However, shooting is not the only sports
Manu excels. Before picking up the pistol, she is already competing at the
national level in a different sport.
She has won a national bronze medal in the Thang Ta – a
Manipuri martial art and is also a state-level skating champion, besides being
adapting to tennis and athletics. “She has a natural talent for the sports. She
is picking up a new sport quite easily. But her problem is that she is used to
getting bored rather quickly and will give up. Also, there have times when she
felt that she has handed a raw deal in a tournament. After that she will stop
playing that sport,” her father Ramkishan Baker says. Both the youngsters are
showing in their respective nationals. Manu breaks Heena Sidhu’s long-standing
national record and won a staggering 15 medals, including nine gold, but
Srihari was adjudged the Best Swimmer at the national aquatic championships
after bagging the eight badges, comprising of the three individual gold medals
and silver.
Srihari’s record timings are earning him a place in the
Common Wealth Games along with helping him to qualify for the Youth Olympics
held in Argentina later this year. A fan of the swimming legend Michael Phelps,
Srihari wants to make his mark, and his eyes on the Common Wealth Games.
Srihari’s coach, AC Jayarajan, who is a retired Naval
officer and he represented Services in the National Championships, says the
Khelo India games were a good training ground. “To be honest, we including the
Khelo India School Games as a part of Hari’s training ahead of the Commonwealth
Games. The times he has a clock here are training times rather than times we
are expecting him to clock in the competition,” Jayarajan has said during the
Games. Srihari will participate in the 50m, 100m and 200m backstroke events. He
will look to make history by adding to Prasanta Karmakar’s 50-meter freestyle
(para-sport) bronze, which is India’s only Commonwealth medal in the swimming. Manu,
who is hailing from Dadri district in the Haryana, seeming to have developing
an affinity for the yellow metal as is evident from her gold-medal winning
streaking at the ISSF Junior and Senior World Cup. Asking about her penchant
for the winning medals, Manu says, “It is just happening. I don’t think of
them. At times, I don’t even know what the records are. Many People are telling
me afterwards that I have to break a record. I am grateful to all my coaches
for their advice and the hours they have put in to increase my technique.”
Manu will also be eager to leave a lasting impression in the
Gold Coast through striving to swell the already rich list of the medals in
shooting.
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