CHENNAI: The Swimming Federation of India will be conducting a senior national camp at home for the first since pandemic from January 11 to February 21 at the Padukone-Dravid Centre for Sports Excellence in Bengaluru.
The federation has announced 18 names (12 men and 6 women) including top swimmers Srihari Nataraj and Kushagra Rawat. The swimmers have to submit a Covid-19 negative certificate before joining the camp.
All protocols put forth by the Sports Authority of India will be followed. "This is a conditioning and preparatory camp," Swimming Federation of India (SFI) secretary-general Monal Chokshi told this newspaper.
Interestingly the camp will be without chief national coach Pradeep S Kumar who is still in Dubai. In his absence, senior coach Nihar Ameen and two others will be overseeing the camp. One of India's top swimmer Sajan Prakash's name is missing from the list.
Due to lack of game time in 2020, the federation is planning to have exposure trips around March-April and is hoping the pandemic situation to get better by then. South Africa is the preferred venue as of now. The team would train at a high-performance centre in Pretoria. There is a possibility that the contingent might also go to Turkey to consult a biomechanical specialist.
"As of now, our choice is to go to South Africa for an exposure trip that will involve both competition and training. Tentatively, it will be around March-April for 60 days. There are three competitions in South Africa during that period and are Olympic qualification events too. But everything depends on the travel restrictions and other protocols in place," Chokshi elaborated.
According to Choksi, with June 27 being the cut-off date for Tokyo Olympic qualification, the priority is to get the swimmers get as many competitions as possible. As of now, six Indian swimmers — Khade, Prakash, Nataraj, Kushagra Rawat, Aryan Makhija and Advait Page — have achieved the B qualification, which doesn't guarantee a ticket to Tokyo.
"There are Olympic qualification competitions in Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore but we are not sure whether they would allow teams from outside to compete," added the secretary-general.
Nationals likely in June The federation is not planning to host national competition any time soon. "Maybe in June-July," said Choksi.
"Most of the pools in the north and east India are closed. Kerala allowed pools to operate only a few days ago. It will not be fair to host the nationals now."
List of campers: Men: Kushagra Rawat (Delhi), Srihari Nataraja (Karnataka), Mihir Ambre (Maharashtra), Adhithya D (TN), Sanajay C J (Karnataka), Danush S (TN), Siva S (Karnataka), Supriya Mondal (RSPB), Sreedep Mondal (Bengal), Anand AS (SSCB), Viraj Prabhu (Maharashtra), Emil Robin Singh (TN). Women: Maana Patel (Gujarat), Rujuta Khade (Maharashtra), Shivangi Sarma (Assam), Divya Satija (Haryana), Shivani Kataria (Haryana), Chahat Arora (Punjab).