GANDHINAGAR: Poor water quality of Sabarmati river in Ahmedabad meant the triathlon event in the ongoing National Games has been shifted to IIT Gandhinagar. Given the decision, the event will now consist of 750m freestyle swimming instead of 1.5km, cycling distance has been reduced to 20km from 40km while running has been halved to 5km. The triathlon competitions are scheduled to begin at the newly-designated venue on October 9.
It is also learnt that the Indian Triathlon Federation looked for other waterbodies in the state but because of the robust crocodile conservation project, there weren't too many options available. The events were finally moved to IIT Gandhinagar.
"Sabarmati water was not found suitable for swimming. I raised the issue with the organisers after water was tested and found unfit. Surat and Porbandar were options but the organisers did not find them feasible after which the IIT Gandhinagar was finalised," Rakesh Gupta, vice-president of the federation, told this daily.
Gupta replied in the affirmative when queried whether the crocodile conservation project was one of the reasons for not choosing other water bodies. He, in fact, affirmed that holding the Games at such a short notice is an achievement and other things do not hold importance. "At least the Games are being held after a gap of seven years. The Gujarat government got only three months to prepare for the event so making minor adjustments to make the event successful is not a big deal," he added.
Competition manager Harish Prasad, however, said he has no clue about the project being one of the reasons for choosing IIT Gandhinagar over other water bodies. "We have to do a water quality test ahead of the event but unfortunately Sabarmati water was not found fit for swimming. We waited for monsoon as usually fresh water fills in in the waterbody after rain but again the quality of water was not found suitable for swimming. After the second test, we immediately decided to shift the venue to IIT Gandhinagar," Prasad told this daily.
He agreed that other options could have been explored but asserted that Gandhinagar being a part of a cluster of cities chosen to host the Games worked in its favour. "We were given an option and we suggested Porbandar as the national championship was conducted here in 2007 but it was not in the cluster. The authorities here in Gandhinagar even constructed a 5km road which will improve athletes' performance in terms of speed and time. It's literally a dead road, so we don't really need a lot of traffic management as well. Given the plus points, the venue is most suitable for triathlon," he added.
Speaking on the sprint distance chosen for the event, Prasad said, "It was the federation decision right from the beginning to do sprint distance and mixed relay super sprint. It has nothing to do with the change in venue." He also said that the sprint distance triathlon encourages more athletes to take up the sport and it's easy for the organisers as well as they don't have to manage traffic for a long period of time.