Andhra Pradesh - Visakhapatnam   

Vizagites beat the heat beside pools

Photo: K.R. Deepak

Taking the plunge: Children enjoying a cool splash in the pool at the Aqua Sports Complex in Visakhapatnam on Thursday. —

VISAKHAPATNAM: A rejuvenating cool splash in the pool is a heavenly experience in such torrid climate. And if pools in the city are any indication to go by, people have gone all out to experience the pleasure of getting their hair wet and laze around in water. In what appears to be a sure-fire way to beat the heat, swimming has caught the fancy of many with pools witnessing a mad rush in the last few days.

The hotels in the city like Hotel Dolphin and The Park hotel have come up with the summer special swimming batches for enthusiasts to chill out.

At the Aqua Sports Complex, more than 450 people have enrolled for the morning and evening batches. The call of the cool waters wakes up enthusiasts at 5.30 in the wee hours, who then head straight to the pools. The complex has two pools – a practice pool from three feet to six feet deep and a 16-feet deep pool for trained swimmers. And a splash isn’t that expensive.

Monthly charges for a child are Rs.250 and for an adult Rs.500. The specially treated antiseptic water ensures that the swimmer’s complexion doesn’t get tanned.

“By the end of April, the rush becomes so much that every batch has close to 200 people,” says P. Appa Rao, Director of Sports, GVMC. Strokes like freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly are taught here under the watchful eyes of around 10 coaches.

However, the coaches complain about the lack of sufficient number of pools for State and National-level swimmers in the city. “Though Vizag has retained the State Championship since the last 10 years, we don’t have sufficient number of swimmers to participate for national and international level competitions. We have only one pool in the city.

While Bangalore, Chennai and cities in Maharashtra produce the maximum number of champion swimmers due to the excellent swimming facilities there,” says P.A. Naidu, coach of Swimming Academy.

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