Dubai camp for three swimmers is significant, but not good to ignore larger talent pool

Finally, after two and a half months of waiting, three elite swimmers have secured the go-ahead from the Sports Authority of India to resume their romance with pool water. In a refreshing change and a throwback to another era, Olympic probables Virdhawal Khade, Srihari Nataraj and Kushagra Rawat will soon start their two-month training in Dubai.

An official release said SAI has approved training for three Olympic probable swimmers who will be accompanied by a coach ahead of next year’s  Tokyo Olympics in the Aqua Nation Swimming Academy. Three other swimmers, Sajan Prakash, Advait Page and Aryan Makhija who have also breached the B qualification mark for the Olympics, are based overseas.

Swimming Federation of India officials, who worked to ensure that swimmers with a B qualification for Tokyo 2020 would now resume training, are hopeful of convincing the Sports Authority of India to clear a larger group of athletes to train in Dubai if the Ministry of Home Affairs continues to ask for the swimming pools to remain closed for some more time.

Yet, anyone who aspires to raise the profile of swimming in the country should look beyond the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo next year and at the Asian Games. At the least, they should have ensured that the swimmers who are a part of TOP Scheme as development athletes should have been thought of.

To begin with, there is no point in identifying swimmers to be on TOP Scheme development group if they cannot be afforded any training in water.  Aryan Nehra and Kenisha Gupta, who were part of the TOPS development group, were joined by Neel Roy, Mihir Ambre, Shoan Ganguly, Tanish Mathew, Aanya Wala, Apeksha Fernandes, Bhavya Sachdeva and Suvana Bhaskar in that list.

Let us get to these swimmers in a bit after looking at two others who have been overlooked by those seeking consistent improvement. It is quite apparent that those who drew up the 16-swimmer list for TOPS did not think much of the breaststroke specialists in the men’s talent pool. And that they were looking for the swimmer to constantly drop times.

Breaststroker Selvaraj Prema Likhith, 22, should have been among those called to the camp. He had a 1:02.02 in the 100m event in Malaysia Open last year, just 0.02 seconds from a time that could have fetched him an Asian Games final berth in Jakarta in 2018. His best is just over a quarter of a second outside the Olympic B standard.

Maana Patel’s name springs to mind. Having recovered from a shoulder injury, the 20-year-old backstroker came up with a 1:05.08 effort in the Asian Age Group Championships in Bengaluru in September last. It was arguably slower than her National mark of 1:04.21 but she has the talent and the determination to be in the 1:02 bracket that can place her in the Asian Games final in 2022.

Suvana Chetana Baskar clocked 1:06.18 and could aspire to challenging Maana Patel’s hold over the backstroke events. If she progresses well, she could be another that can be in the Asian Games mix. Indeed, it cannot be disputed that there is bunch of young swimmers who could have benefit from being called to the camp.

Take 17-year-old Kenisha Gupta, for instance. She may be some distance away from Olympic qualification, but with the right training, she could be in the mix for an Asian Games final slot in 100m free. She clocked 57.71 seconds in the Asian Age Group Championships in Bengaluru in September last year. The last berth in the 2018 Asian Games final went a swimmer clocking 56.49.

Apeksha Fernandes comes across as another teenager with potential to make it to an Asian Games final. At the Asian Age-Group Championships, she clocked 2:40.38 in 200m breaststroke. The final slot from the 2018 Asian Games heats went to a swimmer who finished in 2:35.16. If she can be coached well, it should be possible for her to knock a little more than one second per lap.

It is now incumbent on Swimming Federation of India bosses to reach out to swimmers and parents whose consent it had sought in advance for the Dubai camp and explain the situation. They raised hopes in many a heart. The news that a camp would be held for only three swimmers caused such hearts to sink in disappointment.

Yes, the opportunity for a select bunch to train in Dubai is great – especially since SFI is not known to organise such long-term national camps – but it is important that the larger picture is not overlooked. A start has been made but there is a bigger constituency that the SFI must care for if the sport is to stay relevant in the longer run in the country.