CHENNAI: Delay in reopening pools and the onset of winter have forced the Swimming Federation of India (SFI) to change their plans to conduct competitions. The national body is looking at next year's April-June window to start the domestic season, beginning with age-group championships.
Considering the risk associated, swimming was the last discipline to get the restart nod from the Ministry of Home Affairs. Swimmers were allowed to resume training from October 15. While states such as Karnataka, Goa, Maharashtra have reopened pools for competitive swimmers, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and Kerala are apprehensive, fearing a second wave of coronavirus.
As far as northern states are concerned, with temperatures plunging below 20 and 15 degrees, taking a dip in water is not a priority at the moment. Unlike other countries, all-weather pools are few and far between in India, which means swimmers from states where it gets cold prefer skipping practice during the winter. Given that they need at least a few months of training, SFI has ruled out competitions in the near future.
"In all probability, the competition calendar would be post March only," Monal Choksi, SFI's secretary general, told this newspaper. "Swimmers in the northern states will not be able to train even if the governments permit. Most of the pools are outdoors. So, it is not possible for the northern and north-eastern states to resume training in the winter."
Generally, the swimming season in India begins with junior and sub-junior national meets in June-July, followed by senior championships in August and September. The gap between national and state championships is not more than 30 days. However, given that Tokyo Olympic qualification ends on June 27, SFI might bring forward the season to accommodate nationals before the Tokyo Games in July end.
"Swimmers need at least three months of training before taking part in state-level competitions. Considering that 2021 is an Olympic year, we might tweak the calendar and host the junior nationals early once we know that all states are back to training," added Choksi. There is also a possibility of junior and sub-junior national championships being conducted back-to-back in different venues next year.
SA technical assessment trip
The federation recently revealed that its mulling sending elite swimmers for a foreign camp after January, with focus on sports science assessment. It is understood that SFI is considering high-performance facilities in South Africa for the specialised training.