CHENNAI: It is a known fact that India lags behind the United States in most Olympic sports, despite a population nearly thrice the latter’s. Hockey gave the country a fair share of success in the past, and so have wrestling, boxing, shooting and archery in recent years. But consistent success, especially in individual sports, has been to the bare minimum.
Despite regularly producing tons of winners, both national and international, at junior levels, it is the senior, more competitive levels where most of these upcoming athletes fail to impress, before fading into oblivion.
As yet another Olympic Games approaches, the race for qualification has heated up, and it is yet another chance for Indians to put up a good show and follow in the footsteps of the men’s hockey team, who have assured a tango in Brazil thanks to their gold medal-clinching feat at the Incheon Asian Games last year.
It all starts with the 16th FINA World Championships at Kazan, Russia, which runs from July 24 to August 9. Five swimmers — Sandeep Sejwal, Aaron D’Souza, Virdhawal Khade, Sajan Prakash and Saurabh Sangvekar — will be in action, hoping to seal a spot in one of the biggest sporting spectacles.
Sandeep, who qualified for the last two Olympics, said he was satisfied with preparations, despite an exposure trip abroad not being sanctioned. “Saurav, Aaron and I have been training in Bengaluru since the National Games. We had also applied for an exposure trip, but the lack of support from the government did not help. We wanted to train with the best in the world, and find out what they were doing right. Despite that, I’m happy with the way we have gone about our preparations,” said the 26-year-old.
With the likes of Michael Phelps, James Magnussen and Yannick Agnel opting out of Kazan, this is a good chance for India to come up with the goods.
Asian Games 2010 bronze winner Khade, meanwhile, has been training in Mumbai since 2012, under the watchful eyes of coach Subodh Danke. “Preparations have gone really well, and I swam sub-23 seconds after almost two years, which is encouraging. Plus, I swam faster at the recent trials than at the National Games, and that is definitely a good sign. I do need to lose some weight though,” he said.
Hopes have been pinned on Sandeep and Khade, as they are two of the senior-most swimmers around. But Kerala’s Sajan is someone who has been recently hogging the limelight, having first come into the picture at the Nationals last year, before taking the National Games by storm.
He will be training in Phuket, Thailand, until May next year, and the youngster is not putting too much pressure on himself. “I’ve been in Phuket since May, under coach Miguel Lopez (Spain), and the facilities and pool are very good. I’m just concentrating on improving my timings at Kazan, while also targeting the A-timings,” said the swimmer, who is taking part in his maiden world championship.
It is not everyday that five Indian swimmers face a chance of Olympic qualification, but at Kazan, we could see swimming take rapid steps in the country.