CHENNAI: Sports grounds, playgrounds, courts and swimming pools were among the last to open after the lockdown in 2020. But that did not deter sportsmen from giving the best to their games. Take the state’s swimmers, for instance. Despite being away from the rush of competitive swimming, Tamil Nadu swimmers cut impressive figures slicing through the pools of SDAT at the State Senior Aquatic Meet held in the city. Among them, M Vinayak seems to have caught everyone’s attention.
He was in blazing form at the Championship held on Saturday, logging an impressive time of 26.63 seconds in the 50m backstroke. This smashed a previous state record set ten years ago by almost an entire second. This was not his only feat as he also broke yet another record in the 50m butterfly stroke. The pools at Velachery are Vinayak’s second home as this where he trains with his coach Mohan.
The class 12 student of Guru Nanak High School showed a passion for swimming at a young age. “He has managed to fulfil the hopes I had in him. I hope to see him achieve much more at the nationals,” said Mohan. Vinayak, too, was ecstatic at scoring multiple gold medals. “My family has always been supportive. My dad was in the stands to cheer me on.
I will bring pride and joy to my family and my state by bringing home a medal from the nationals,” he said. With surging cases of COVID-19 cancelling the nationals, Vinayak’s dream cruise seems to have halted. But he is undaunted and looking forward to participating in the future.
The fact that he is relatively inexperienced and would be going up against swimmers who have had much more exposure at the international level, does not weigh him down. In fact, the young swimmer is eager to test his mettle and prove his talent to cement his place among the pantheon of swimming greats.