Siddaramaiah to inaugurate Olympic standard swimming pool on Nov 24

Mangaluru: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will inaugurate both the international Olympic standard swimming pool and 19th National Masters Swimming championship 2023 at Emmekere on November 24, Assembly Speaker U T Khader told mediapersons on Monday.

CM will also lay foundation for the playground at Emmekere, Khader added. Built on the standard prescribed by International Swimming Federation (FINA), the swimming pool is developed under Mangaluru Smart City Limited (MSCL) at a total cost of Rs 24.94 cr, Khader said.

The complex has a competition pool with 50m length X 25 metre width, and a varying depth of 2.2m to 1.4 m. A practice pool and a children pool was also built to initiate children into competitive swimming. The open to sky swimming pool has a spectator seating with capacity to accommodate 400 people.

He added that the complex has a competition pool with 50m length X 25 metre width, and a varying depth of 2.2m to 1.4 m. Along with the competition pool, a practice pool of 25 metre lenghX10metre widthX2.2 metre depth to be used as training pool has been built.

With the view to initiate children into competitive swimming, a kid pool of 13.8 m length X 10 metre widthX1.2 metre depth has been developed.

Khader said that the unique feature of this is its positioning at +7.0 m of deck level allowing cars and two-wheeler parking at the basement as well as filtration unit under the pool bottom.

The design also provides an opportunity to create a Mezzanine floor for dormitories, gymnasium, changing rooms, toilets, lockers, administration office and space for sports medicine, physiotherapy, anti doping room and other requisite facilities for conducting international events.

The open to the sky swimming pool has a spectator seating with capacity of 400 people and the opposite side of the spectator gallery is designated for swimmers, officials, trainers and coaches. Two separate elevators have been provided for accessing the higher level pool competition area and spectator gallery.

Further, swimming pools are made with underwater lighting, overflow channels, starting blocks, lane dividers. The elevation is made of locally available factory made terracotta wire cut bricks.

As promised to the local residents while constructing the swimming pool, a playground will be developed in front of the swimming pool at a cost of Rs two crore.

“We will hold discussions with the local residents before developing the playground according to their requirements. The playground will have walking track, running track, facility for playing cricket, volleyball, football and so on. The government wishes to have a mini sports complex once the works are completed,” said U T Khader.

He said that Rs 2 crore has been earmarked for the maintenance of the swimming pool.

The 19th National Masters Swimming Championship will be attended by 850 swimmers, 150 officials from the Swimming Federation of India and volunteers.

A team from Karnataka Swimming Association has already inspected the pool. The technical team from the Swimming Federation of India will arrive on November 15, said working president of the swimming championship K Thejomaya.