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Xtra Time Web Desk: Maana Patel became the first Indian woman swimmer to participate in the Olympics. Her participation in the Tokyo Games was confirmed through ‘Universality quota’ according to the Swimming Federation of India. Maana will be the third swimmer to get the cut for the summer games after Sajan Prakash and Srihari Nataraj. She will take part in the 100m backstroke event in Tokyo.

The Universality quota allows one male and one female competitor from a country to participate in the Olympics, provided no other swimmer from the same gender qualifies for the Games or receives a FINA invite based on his or her Olympic Selection time (B time).

"It''s an amazing feeling. I have heard about the Olympics from fellow swimmers and watched it on the television and seen a lot of pictures," Maana told Olympics.com.

Congratulating Maana, Union Sports Minister Kiren Rijiju tweeted, "Backstroke swimmer Maana Patel has become the 1st female and 3rd Indian swimmer to qualify for #Tokyo2020. I congratulate Maana, who qualified through Universality Quota. Well done!!"

The 21-year-old sustained an ankle injury in 2019 and only made a comeback earlier this year. She achieved gold at the Uzbekistan Open Swimming Championships in April, where she clocked 1:04.47. She had recently taken part in events in Serbia and Italy as a tune up for the Tokyo Games. At the Belgrade event, she bettered her national mark in the 100m backstroke.

With Universality quota which is not even the ''B'' qualifying mark, Maana knows that Olympics for her is more about gaining experience.

"I am not looking for much here, just the experience of swimming at the Olympics. The 2023 season is an important year for us. I see the Commonwealth Games and the Asian Games as a real opportunity for a podium finish," Maana reckoned.