Worm-infested pools put practice sessions on hold
DIRTY AFFAIR Sports board says it would have created another pool had the swimming body asked for it
RANCHI: Worm-infested pools in Bir Budhu Bhagat Aquatic Stadium have put practice sessions on hold for most swimmers participating in the 70th Glenmark Senior National Aquatic Championships.
Some of them, however, are using the pools reserved for championship events. That in turn is creating a problem for the event organizers as they have a tough time bringing them out of the pool to hold the events slated for the day.
Monique Gandhi from Maharashtra, gold medalist in 1500-metre freestyle swimming, said, “Nowhere have I seen such a dirty practice pool. Lack of adequate facilities has deprived participants of vital practice sessions before their events.”
“We are short on practice due to unavailability of a proper practice pool. We are allowed a limited stint in the reserved pools and thus missing out on full practice,” she said.
The officials of Jharkhand Swimming Association, however, are taking pride in the fact that they have organized the event successfully in a short time. “It is actually an achievement for us. It was not possible to prepare all the pools in the short span that we were given to hold the championship,” said Shailendra Tiwari, secretary of Jharkhand Swimming Association.
Alok Kumar, chief executive officer of the Jharkhand Sports Promotion Board, however, did not buy the JSA secretary’s contention. “The JSA had asked for just two pools for the championship and we readied them in time. Had they asked for the third one for practice, we would have certainly readied that,” said Alok.
“The cleaning and filling of the two pools required 60-65 lakh litres of water. We would have arranged additional 15-20 lakh litres for preparing the third pool, had they asked for it,” he said.
Sunday was the second day of the five-day championship. The event concludes with water polo championship on September 28.