The Hindu : An exciting fare in prospect

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 17, 2003

Sport

Sport - Swimming

An exciting fare in prospect

By Khalyan N. Ashok

KOLKATA Sept.16. The 57th National aquatic championship which gets underway at the Subhas Sarobar complex here, promises an exciting fare with high stakes for the competitors.

With several major meets, scheduled during the season and the important one being the Afro-Asian Games at Hyderabad next month, the contenders would certainly strive their best to book their berths on the squad. The six-day meet feature as many 800 participants, the sheer quantity can be matched by quality, if the swimmers perform up to their potentials.

Unlike the meet at Thrissur, which was missed by several swimmers including Shikha Tandon, Richa Misra, who were then attending the Asian Games camp at Delhi, all of them are back in action at Kolkata and raring to go.

Richa Misra,20, has pleasant memories of Kolkata as she scooped up as many 10 medals when she participated here in 2000, and the butterfly ace from Police, who holds the National marks in the 50,100 and 200 m events, is looking far more fitter and keener after her stint of training in Hungary. "It was a very useful training under coach, Otto Kovacs in Hungary and I am glad that I was able to set National record of 2:19.58 in the 200 m butterfly in the World Championship, though I was shade slower for the Olympic qualifying mark. My aim, this season is to qualify for the Olympics and at this meet, I wish to improve on my records and try for gold in other events like 400m individual medley'', said Richa.

Richa set up a tantalising tussle with Shikha Tandon in the National Games at Hyderabad in 2002 December as they battled for the best swimmer award. Shikha is on a new high here, having virtually booked a spot for the Olympics by registering the fastest time by an Indian woman swimmer (58.32 seconds in the first 100 m segment of the 4 x 100 m freestyle relay at Barcelona World Championship). Subsequently, Shikha 27.04 seconds in the 50 m freestyle and 31.40 in the 50 m backstroke in the Asian Age Group championship at Macau, which again are the best Indian performances those events.

" I am looking for good timings. I have trained well and I am happy with the way, things went for me in the World Championship and Asian age Group meet'', said Shikha, from Bangalore.

Shikha, however is not in the running for a spot in the Afro Asian Games, as she plans to leave for Australia by the month-end, where she will train in Queensland Academy of Sports.

Another star who will be back in action is Nisha Millet, who was in hibernation, following non-malignant tumour growth on her spine few years ago. After surgery and hard training, including a three month stint in Perth, Nisha is back , but it remains to be seen whether the Karnataka ace be at her explosive best, especially in the 200 m freestyle , in which she holds the National record.

Ambica Iyengar of Karnataka is the defending champion of individual title after which she won it at Thrissur and she certainly has a fight on her hand, with return some of her formidable rivals like Shikha, Nisha and Richa.'' At Thrissur, I went with no big expectation and I did well and I hope to do well here too'', said Ambica.

The other big challenger from Karnataka camp is V. Sivaranjani, the Bangalore teenager is in the fray for five events, including the 400 m freestyle, where she stands a bright chance. Outside the Karnataka camp are talented contenders like Saba, Sumi Cyriac , Avani Sawant, but they will be hard pressed to stop the Karnataka juggernaut.

At Thrissur, Karnataka bagged the overall title, but its chances are dimmed to certain extent by the absence of Rehan Poncha, the hero of the National Games at Hyderabad. Rehan has returned to Australia to resume his training. " It certainly puts us under pressure, few good swims from other guys like Rahul Batra, Abhiram,Rohan D'Souza and the rest, should carry us through'' , said the Karnataka coach, S. Pradeep Kumar.

Police who were denied of that honours last time by Karnataka, certainly turned out in force with

`The best Swimmer' of last meet, Deepak Kumar spearheading its challenge. He is very much looking for an encore here. The breaststroke specialist National records in the 50,100 and 200, said that he would like better his National records.

T.A.Sujith of Services, the freestyle expert, did well for himself at Thrissur and looks for a rewarding out here and so are backstroker, Senthil Kumar of Kerala and V. Arun of Tamil Nadu. Akbar Ali Mir of Railways is on his home waters here and there is a loyal band of supporters to egg of him on to glory. Then there old war horses like Kailashnath of Police and Harinder Singh , who are itching to give the young ones a run for their money.

In diving medal prospects includes Harish Amaldas ( Railways), Yogesh Watve (Services), Madhu Jawalkar (Delhi ) and G.B. Sharath (Karnataka ) among men, while, Railway exponents Momoni Modal,Suparna Paul, Tanya Ganguly and Ishani Ghosh, besides Shruti Srivastava and Ashwini Mohite of Karnataka, should fight it for honours in the women's section.

The opening day's card features six events , which includes 400 m freestyle,100 m backstroke and 50 metre butterfly events for both men and women. The diving contests will start from Wednesday.

The organisers have done well to bring the electronic timer from Bangalore for the meet and that should settle any ambiguity in close finishes. But what is surprising is there will be no dope tests and the Swimming Federation of India too has not insisted on it. When the mandatory dope tests are becoming a norm, the world over, it is a pity that this issue is being put on the back burner by the powers that be in the Indian aquatics.

Shikha's performance in the World championship,fastest time by an Indian woman swimmer (58.32 seconds ) in the first 100 m segment of the 4 x 100 m freestyle relay at Barcelona World Championship.

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