The few patrons inside the McDonalds at Songdo, an uptown district of Incheon, watched in amusement as a young man walked in. The affable guy at the counter fumbled for words, his eyes transfixed on a piece of metal hanging from the man’s neck as he hurriedly placed the order.

Sandeep Sejwal found himself a table in a quiet corner and feasted on a couple of quarter-pounders. The motley crowd inside trained their flashy smartphones at him, clicking pictures of an unknown man who was gorging on burgers while fiddling with his bronze medal. Sejwal loves his burgers. But he loves swimming much more.

Just an hour ago, he had scripted history in the pool. On a day when most Indians were following the fortunes of the shuttlers and the archers, the 25-year-old from Delhi became only the ninth Indian to win a medal at Asian Games swimming. Only the third, if you don’t count the under-represented first edition in 1951. Even though a bronze, Sejwal’s swim in 28.26 seconds to make a surprise podium appearance in the 50m breaststroke will remain a high point in India’s medal haul in Incheon.

The breakthrough

Before 2010, India had not won a single swimming medal at the Asian Games for 24 years. Now, they have two in the last two. Virdhawal Khade ended the long draught by winning the 50m butterfly bronze four years ago in Guangzhou and now Sejwal.

The Delhiite said his performance at the Munhak Park Tae-Hwan Aquatics Centre didn’t come out of the blue, at least for him. It was a ‘culmination of eight years of hard work.’ When he took his position on the edge of the pool, Sejwal said all those sacrifices flashed before his eyes.

“I have trained very hard to win a medal at the Games. I thought if I don’t win today, then everything would be a waste of time. That’s what I told myself before the race, just don’t waste the previous eight years of your life,” he said.

It wasn’t a perfect race but it certainly was enough. For the first 40m, Sejwal even led the young field that boasted of several quick swimmers. However, he lost balance in the last three strokes, and the slight hiccup cost him a medal of better colour. Sejwal was 0.48 behind gold medallist Dmitriy Balandin of Kazakhstan, who set the Games Record with a timing of 27.78. “Had I clocked my personal best (27.84sec), I would have been very close to winning the gold medal,” he said.

But Sejwal isn’t complaining. His swimming career has come a full circle. Two years ago, he was rejected from the Indian team for the London Olympics despite winning his qualification quota. His career was at the crossroads after achieving no real breakthroughs. “But I didn’t give up. Every day, I have been training for almost seven hours — six in the pool and one in the gym — to strengthen my body. My target has been an Asian Games medal and I knew that if I failed this time, I wouldn’t get another chance,” he said.

Swimmers from China and Japan, in particular, have set high standards in the pool. In their wake, few would have given a chance to an Indian swimmer to finish on the podium.

Short is sweet

But national coach Nihar Ameen said they had particularly identified the shorter distances as it suits the Indian swimmers better. “Our swimmers are good at sprint events, which have shorter distances. Our boys lack the endurance to succeed in a long-distance race so we had particularly practised for the 50m events,” Ameen said. “I hope we can continue this trend, but it won’t be easy given the limitations we have.”

Ameen said apart from the Talkatora Stadium in Delhi, no pool across the country boasts of latest equipment and technology. Swimming also features low on government’s funding priorities, and consequently, the talent pool isn’t vast. “I hope that these two medals will inspire a change,” Ameen said.