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Dhindhi Desinghu secured her berth for the Paris Olympics 2024 on Wednesday, June 26. The 14-year-old along with seasoned campaigner Srihari Nataraj reserved their berths for the quadrennial event under the University quota. With this, Desinghu became the youngest member of the Indian contingent at the forthcoming edition of the tournament.
In February, Dhindhi clocked the Best Indian Time in the girl’s 100m freestyle event. She finished fourth at the 11th Asian Group Aquatics Championships in the Philippines. With her performance, she broke the previous record of 57.35s set by Kenisha Gupta and clocked the new Indian best time of 57.33s by competing in the ‘C’ category at New Clark City in Capas, Philippines.
On the other hand, Nataraj is a national record holder in 200m freestyle and he won the gold medal in men’s 100m backstroke with a timing of 55.52s at the same event to solidify his chances of reserving the Olympics berth under the University Quota.
The Swimming Federation of India announced that Desinghu and Nataraj secured Olympic berth with, “Congratulations to swimmers Dhinidhi Desinghu & Srihari Nataraj for being selected to represent India at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games under "Universality Quota" .. wishing them the very best.”
It is to be noted that the swimming governing body in India decided to move ahead with the University Places since no swimmer could achieve the Olympics Selection Time or receive a FINA invite.
