At age of 14, swimmer Dhinidhi Desinghu to represent India at Paris Olympics

New Delhi: Dhinidhi Desinghu, a 14-year-old swimmer, is set to represent India at the 2024 Paris Olympics. She secured the opportunity to participate in the event via the Universality Places qualification system, which allows countries to recommend their two highest-ranked swimmers for the showpiece if none cuts through the regulation process. Dhinidhi, along with Srihari Nataraj, have been qualified through the system.

The Swimming Federation of India (SFI) claimed the "universality places" for both genders after no Indian swimmer qualified for the Paris Games or received a FINA invite based on his or her Olympic Selection time (B time).

The last date to qualify for the Olympics was June 23. In the male category, Nataraj was placed at the top of the World Aquatics points table with 849 points, closely followed by Aryan Nehra, who was two points behind after his last qualification attempt in Canada. Amongst the female swimmers, 14-year-old Dhinidhi was the highest-ranked individual with 749 points.

Nataraj, along with veteran Sajan Prakash, had made history in 2021 by becoming the first two Indian swimmers to achieve the Olympic Qualification Timing (OQT) 'A' level time to directly qualify for the Tokyo Games.

Nataraj will compete in the 100-metre backstroke event in Paris, while Dhinidhi will participate in the women's 200-metre freestyle.

(With inputs from PTI)