Pools stay shut, swimmers sweat
COVID-19 Six male swimmers striving to achieve ‘A’ qualification standard for Tokyo have had their training pegged back due to the pandemic
nNEWDELHI: Indian swimming is on the cusp of something special. Never have six male swimmers—virdhawal Khade, Sajan Prakash, Srihari Natraj, Aryan Makhja, Kushagra Rawat, and Neel Roy—come within a whisker of achieving ‘A’ qualification standard in their respective events for the postponed Tokyo Olympic Games. The COVID-19 pandemic however has thrown a spanner in the works.
Among the six swimmers, Khade, the 2010 Asian Games 50m butterfly bronze medallist, is closest to clinching the qualification. His best of 22.44 seconds in 50m freestyle is just shy of the Olympic A qualification mark of 22.01 seconds. To gain on those vital milliseconds, the 28-yearold Mumbai based swimmer was supposed to train at Virginia Tech University from March to June under the supervision of Sergio Lopez whose trainee Joseph Schooling had famously pipped Michael Phelps to the 100m butterfly gold at the Rio Olympics.
To give some perspective, no Indian swimmer has till date clocked the ‘A’ qualification that guarantees a direct entry to the Olympics. The ‘B’ qualification is like a quota place that doesn’t guarantee participation as there are limited berths in this category. Khade, thus, can’t be blamed for feeling shortchanged at such a vital stage of his training. “The government had sanctioned funds but as my coach (Nihar Ameen) and I were preparing to go to USA in March, the news of the pools closing came as a big disappointment,” said Khade.
Indian swimmers are at a disadvantage as government guidelines don’t allow swimming pools or gyms to reopen while countries like the US and Thailand have reopened for training. “The Swimming Federation of India (SFI) has approached the sports ministry and we are hopeful pools for competitive training will open soon,” said Ameen who has been national coach for a long time now. “Since swimming pools in India aren’t open, I’m doing fitness training to maintain my body weight,” said Khade from Mumbai.
Some of the Indian swimmers based overseas have resumed training though. Prakash, a 26-year old from Kerala who is on an International Swimming Federation (FINA) scholarship since 2015, has started training under coach Miguel lopez in Phuket, Thailand. “It’s a really testing time for us,” Prakash said from his training base. “Without training in the pool it’s difficult to become fit for competition. Gym work or cross training is just 20 percent of the overall training,” said Prakash. His top 2019 performance for 200m butterfly was 1:58.04 secs while the A standard Olympic qualification in his event is 1:56.48 secs.
Four years ago, Prakash had represented India at the Rio Olympics riding a ‘B’ qualification. But this time he was better placed before the pandemic halted his training. “Focus was on the world championship short course to achieve the ‘A’ qualification, but the pools closed in mid-march. The event also got cancelled. But last week I started again like a beginner. Having missed training in the pool for a good 60 days, it will take me at least 120 days to return to my normal training schedule,” said Prakash whose main focus is 200m butterfly. “I’m lucky to have started training. But I have to start from scratch. It will take time to build up.”
Neel Roy, an 18-year old freshman at Stanford University has also resumed training after shifting base to Kentucky. “All the swimmers have to follow the guidelines issued by local authorities like using alternate lanes for practice. Spectators are barred from the pool side and only a limited number are allowed to use the pool for training,” he said from Kentucky. Roy, who hails from Mumbai, will focus on 200m freestyle. “I’m taking this an opportunity to build up as there aren’t any major competitions in the near future. I have started with onehour trainings and will increase to two by the end of June.”
Srihari Nataraj, an 18-year old swimmer from Bengaluru, is also close to breaking the barrier. His best for 100m backstroke is 54.69 secs while 53.85 secs is the A qualification time. “Since the lockdown started I have been doing weights training and skipping,” he said. “Since I’m staying in staying an apartment I use stairs for aerobic exercise.”
Training has also halted for Makhja and Rawat who are mainly concentrating on the endurance events (400m-1500m freestyle). Rawat, a Delhi based second year college student and a trainee of Sports Authority of
India (SAI) swimming academy, is confident of achieving ‘A’ qualification in 800m freestyle when competition starts end of this year or early 2021. Rawat’s personal best is 8:01 secs in 800m while the A qualification time is 7 minutes 54.31 secs. “I have already achieved B qualification time in 400m and 800m freestyle but I will focus mainly on the longer event as I believe have good chance,” he said.
Rawat had gone to Gold Coast for 10 weeks advance training in January and had returned on March 17. “The lockdown started right after that and I couldn’t build up to what I had learned in Australia.”
Makhja, a second year student of Auburn University, US had come home (Mumbai) on March 16. “Training has resumed in USA but I can’t go because of the travel restrictions,” said the 20 year old. Makhja says he has good chance of making the cut in the 800m category. “My personal best is 8 minutes 7.32 secs and I’m sure I will achieve ‘A’ qualification (7min 54.31 secs) when competition starts,” he said of his future plans. For that though, a lot of things need to fall in place quickly.
According to Ameen, there are two swimming centres in the country—in Bengaluru and New Delhi—that can be opened for training elite swimmers. “Prakash and Roy are abroad while the other top swimmers are in India. Training can start in a controlled environment, maintain social distance and other guidelines outlined by the government,” said Ameen. Since training has come to a complete halt, it will take at least threefour months to regain 50 percent of the fitness if training starts in June. “It will take six-eight months to hit a peak training of 40km to 60km a week in the pool.”