CWG 2026: Sajan Prakash reaches men's 200m butterfly final

In a series of brave efforts, star Indian swimmer Sajan Prakash kept his Commonwealth Games medal hopes alive by claiming a place in the men's 200m butterfly final with an amazing performance in the heats. The experienced star finished second in his heat, recording 1:58.59, after setting the pace over the opening 100 metres before being overtaken in the latter half of the race.

Sajan Prakash stays alive in CWG

Scotland's Duncan Scott claimed the first place with a time of 1:58.29, narrowly finishing ahead of Sajan Prakash, who touched the wall in 1:58.59. Although the Indian swimmer comfortably booked his place in the final, his performance remained a bit tacky slower than his personal best of 1:57.09.

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The star Indian swimmer is competing in the final season of his career with the aim of wining a CWG medal while also setting a new personal best performance in Glasgow. The 32-year-old swimmer has already earned qualification for both the Commonwealth Games and the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games in the men's 200m butterfly, keeping his hopes of finishing his career on a high note.

How Sajan prepared himself for the CWG 2026?

In the buildup to his final season, Sajan Prakash underwent a serious training programme that consisted of a three-week speed camp in Edinburgh and high-altitude training in Sierra Nevada, Spain. Now training under former India swimmer and Asian Games medallist Sandeep Sejwal, the veteran has adopted a more balanced approach, placing greater focus on recovery, nutrition, sleep quality, and breath work to ensure he delivers his peak performance in his farewell season.

Underwhelming performance from Gurindervir Singh

Despite carrying a big hype along with him, Singh's maiden appearance at the Commonwealth Games finished on a disappointing note, as he failed to deliver the performance many had anticipated.

During the heats, Gurindervir clocked 10.39 seconds, falling short of the mark required to qualify for the next round. With only the 17 fastest athletes across all heats advancing to the semifinals, the Indian sprinter finished 28th overall among 73 competitors. A time of 10.24 seconds would have been enough to claim a qualification, but the 24-year-old failed to produce the performance required on his debut appearance at CWG.