India’s transition conundrum

Swimmers training at the Basavanagudi Aquatic Centre in Bengaluru ahead of Asian Age Group swimming championships. DH Photo/ Pushkar V

In some ways, the Asian Age Group Swimming Championship sits right where India’s sweet spot lies. For a country that has struggled to establish itself as an Asian elite - much less at the world level - in terms of medals, the age group meet has proved quite fruitful.

The last two editions saw India rake in 20 and 40 medals in Bangkok and Tashkent respectively, showing the strides taken by the country in the sport. This year, when the meet starts in the city in a couple of days, the same is expected.

“Age group competition, we generally do well, we have good numbers. Some of the age group swimmers you can say are almost at the Asian level or World Class even,” says national team coach Pradeep Kumar S citing Srihari Nataraj and Virdhawal Khade before him.

Srihari, an Olympic hopeful is just 0.85 seconds off the A qualification time in 100m backstroke, will enter the Bengaluru meet in the open category but has the experience of having swum in the event twice. In fact, his first international meet was the Asian Age Group meet in Bangkok four years ago. “This is a very good meet for young swimmers to get exposure,” he remarks. “Competition is strong but it’s not so strong that you end up losing hope. It’s a good meet to start with.”

The Karnataka swimmer has since gone on to represent India at a host of events including Asian Games and World Championships.

Another swimmer whose rise started with her performance in the Asian Age Group is Nisha Millet. Her bronze medal in 100m freestyle in Hong Kong back in the early 90s set the platform which would propel her all the way to the Olympics.

“What essentially happens is that the top Asian countries, they send their best swimmers in the age group,” she says of the experience. “There are a lot of swimmers who are as fast or even faster than you, so it is good to get that exposure.

“It was the meet we would look up to apart from the Asian Games or World Championships, which all came later. Camaraderie is good and because you’re all young and there is an element of fun in it as well. Because you’ve raced against foreign swimmers, it’s like a build up for bigger events. It’s a stepping stone.”

While it cements the importance of the event from an Indian perspective, it also begets the question why the success does not translate to the senior level?

“They don’t continue,” comes the swift answer from Pradeep. “We can’t have just one or two (swimmers at the senior level). We have many at the age group so performances won’t drop.”

When asked about the reason for the drop outs, the Dronacharya Award winner says, “Once you come to that level, it’s expensive. Like say for Srihari’s level, till now his parents are able to spend money for them, maybe a few where he gets helped by the government. It will be difficult for them to continue unless there is funding.”

Then of course, there is the choice that has to be made.

“There is a dilemma because to continue swimming means the future is not secured. When the government is giving a seat for their past performances, they will honour that and we lose an athlete who has 10-12 years of performances and a certain level,” he says adding that the collegiate system, student-athlete balance and sports science help is far from ideal.

At the moment, Asian Age Group remains one of the country’s top meet. And if the medal tally keeps rising, perhaps that’s just the shot in the arm Indian swimming needs.