The Hindu : Sport : Sub-junior national from today

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Thursday, Jun 21, 2007
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Sub-junior national from today

MARGAO: With the rains pouring, the records could well be at a premium at the 24th sub-junior national swimming championship, set to get underway at the Fatorda Swimming Pool here from Thursday. The diving events will be held at the Campal pool in Panaji.

On a rain hit Wednesday, the pace and preparations seem to have been badly hit and, despite being hosted in the Swimming Federation of India (SFI) president and state chief minister Mr. Digambar Kamath’s hometown, the venue bore a forlorn and grossly inadequate look.

The SFI officials too seemed ill-prepared in providing details of the event and the past performances.

Maharashtra has been a dominant force in the sub-junior category over the years although Karnataka did break the hegemony twice — in 2002 at Bangalore and in 2004 at Nashik — in recent times. This time around too, the Maharashtra contingent seems be confident of retaining the overall title. The confidence is more pronounced in the diving arena with state coaches Bahusaheb Dighe and Gopi Malpeddi talking about sweeping all the medals on offer.

Karnataka however is not prepared to let Maharashtra hog the limelight and coach Bhushan did sound a warning. “There are very many new faces and talents in group IV and III and it will be split timings that will separate the winners...it can go either way and we are bound to do well,” said the Karnataka coach.

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