Women swimmers need to step up: Millet

Lamenting the Indian swimmers’ performance at the recently concluded Rio Olympics, former India swimmer and Olympian Nisha Millet said the women swimmers of the country haven’t progressed to the expected level.

“If you look at the current scenario, my concern is about female swimmers. The  records set by me or Shikha (Tandon) between 2000 and 2004 are yet to be broken. We have seen the emergence of a few promising swimmers like Maana Patel or Shivani Khataria but they are yet to reach the level we had attained,” explained Nisha on the sidelines of a launch programme. 

Nisha, however, praised the male competitors, crediting them for making it big at the Asian stage.

“The men have improved a lot. Sajan Prakash was the first male swimmer in the country to complete 200 metres under two minutes. Two Asian Games medals have come in the men’s category since the time I have retired and it’s a great achievement, considering the fact that at the Asian level, it’s tough to even get a bronze. Every year, the timings have been better and many records have been broken. It is too early to expect a medal from them at the world stage but with continuous training and better exposure, their performances will improve ” she said.

Renowned swimming coach Pradeep Kumar was awarded the Dronacharya award two days ago and Nisha, who was the first Olympian under Pradeep, said that he completely deserved the award.

“He has dedicated his life to swimming and completely deserves the award. Coaches don’t get enough recognition in India. I got the best training under Pradeep sir and he has raised the standard of Indian swimming,” said Nisha.  

Sports city
In a bid to provide professional training and practice in various disciplines, EXD Projects Pvt Ltd, a city based developer,  announced the setting up of a sports city -- Codename Five Rings -- within a proposed 100-acre township project in Sarjapur.

Estimated to come up in a budget of Rs 30-35 crore, the sports city is expected to be completed in 30 to 36 months with facilities catering to the needs of football, swimming, tennis, badminton, basketball and cycling.

Nisha said that the project would bring out many more talented sportspersons. “Bengaluru is the right choice for these kind of initiatives. With good infrastructure, it is possible to produce many talented players and this project is a great opportunity to all the youngsters of the city,” she said.
DH News Service