The Hindu : Sport / Swimming : The short course route to long-term results

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Oct 14, 2004

Sport

Sport - Swimming

The short course route to long-term results

By Kalyan Ashok

BANGALORE, OCT. 13. "It's time we had more short course meets at home" was the refrain of the Indian swimmers who took part in the World short course swimming championship in Indianapolis.

When the world over, short course swimming is popular, the Swimming Federation of India (SFI) has largely ignored the potential of such meets. There is no National-level short course championship and only a few associations like Karnataka, Maharashtra and Delhi evince interest in conducting such meets.

The Indian performance at Indianapolis is conditioned by such factors. It might not look so encouraging on paper, but the fact is some of the swimmers, especially Nisha Millet, have done well despite adverse conditions. Nisha's 2:06.36 in the 200m freestyle is the best clocked by an Indian at a World short course meet. She topped her heat and finishing 23rd overall in a meet dominated by a galaxy of stars from the United States, Europe and Australia is no mean effort.

The main handicap that the Indians swimmers faced at Indianapolis was the lack of warm-up swims. They landed on October 6, dumped their luggage at the airport and headed straight for the venue. Most of their heats were held in the mornings, while the Indians perform at their best after noon. But the biggest hurdle for the Indians was lack of exposure. It needs special technique to swim the short course where there are more turns and the swimmer has to make adjustment in strokes.

The SFI vice-president, T.D. Vijayaragahvan, is hopeful that the federation will get around to organising a National short course championship. Speaking to The Hindu, he said: "The SFI is not against short course championships, it is very much on the agenda and we would like to hold a National championship. But we face problems regarding availability of short course (25 metre) pools in the country and not many associations are coming forward to hold the championships, unless there is some government grant. We have been conducting such meets in Karnataka for the past few years and we will continue to do so."

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