Khajan Singh Tokas won a silver medal in the 200m butterfly in the 1986 Seoul Asian Games, breaking the 35-year medal hiatus for India. Prior to that, the country had won six medals at the inaugural Asian Games in 1951 in New Delhi. After Tokas, India managed only two more medals at the Asian Games – Virdhawal Khade (50m butterfly, 2010 Guangzhou Asiad) and Sandeep Sejwal (50m backstroke, 2014 Incheon Asiad).
India are now well placed now to stand again on the podium at the Asian Games after eight years next year, Tokas said:
Asked why there was a huge gap between his Asian medal in 1986 and India winning another 24 years later, Tokas said:
Khajan Singh Tokas said that though he managed to qualify for the 1988 Olympics with a timing of 1:59s, he could not manage a medal. He admitted it was tough to win a medal as a 26-year-old then. Tokas said:
Tokas clocked 2:03.95s in the heats to finish 28th in 200m butterfly at the Seoul Games. Tokas talks about modern day swimmers in India.
Khajan Singh has been following Indian swimmers’ progress and said that the present scenario would encourage parents to let their children take up swimming seriously.
It may be noted that Indian women have not qualified for the Asian Games since Shikha Tandon participated in 2006. Tokas feels Maana Patel and Kenisha Gupta are capable of winning medals next year.
Tokas has come a long way from his humble beginnings, when he was given a daily allowance of ₹26 daily allowance for food before the 1982 Asian Games national camp in Mumbai.
Khajan Singh Tokas CRPF has made friends with champion Olympic gold medallists Matt Biondi and Pablo Morales of USA. In an era when today’s swimmers say that it is difficult to exchange notes and talk to fellow swimmers from other countries during competitions, Tokas cherishes his interactions with the champion swimmers from other countries.
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