'If focus is on just sports that are delivering, others will die': Nihar Ameen

Noted coach Nihar Ameen of Bengaluru said that the two-tiered support from the government could help improve the standards of swimming in the country.

The 2015 Dronacharya award recipient went as the chief coach of the Indian swimming contingent to the World Championships that concluded on July 28 in Gwangju.

Ameen, who has coached Olympians including Shikha Tandon and Sandeep Sejwal in the past and still has Virdhawal Khade among his trainees, told DNA upon return from Gwangju: "There are some new initiatives by the government like the Khelo India but a lot more is required for sports that have the potential to deliver. If you are only going to focus on the sports that are already delivering, the others are going to die," Ameen said.

"You have to see what is the potential, and have a 2-tiered approach – one for people who are already in medal contention and the other is to develop the sport, see to it they get the required help to get to that level. Whatever happens there, give some kind of support to see that they get the lift. Otherwise, a lot of them will say they could not perform because they got zero support. You need to create a system for developmental athletes," Ameen, who coaches at the Dolphin Academy in Bengaluru, reiterated.

Indian swimmers not progressing beyond the heats at the Worlds is not to be laughed at, according to Ameen. "That can happen. For most of them, this was their first World Championships. It was their first exposure at the highest level. Virdhawal has been there a few times. Srihari Nataraj has been to quite a few big championships including the Commonwealth Games and the Asiad. But for most of the young kids like Advait Page and Kushagra Rawat and Likhith SP, it is their first Worlds. They literally had stars in their eyes, they were quite overawed by the event.

"We have to be realistic as well. You can't be 20th, 30th and 40th in the world and expect to be in the top 2 at the World Championships. It has taken decades and decades for other countries to come to the top."

While Ameen said that India now have the infrastructure for swimming unlike in the past, the solution to improve its standard is by racing abroad consistently.

"Going abroad to train is not necessary. What you need to do is go out and race regularly. Earlier, it was the combination of having to train and race overseas as you only had Talkatora pool in Delhi of any international standard.

To train and race properly, you had to go to Europe. Now training can be done very well here and do regular short stints abroad. For that money is required. And where does the money come from?" asked Ameen.

Ameen said there's hope for swimmers in India. "There's a lot of homework to be done. We can look towards 2024 or 2028 Olympics. There is hope. The Swimming Federation of India has always supported us quite well. Earlier, there was no infrastructure available. We now have infrastructure. At the Asian and Commonwealth level, we can achieve something."

Ameen was optimistic of India making the 'A' qualifying mark for 2020 Olympic Games. He said: "A couple of people like Virdhawal, Srihari Nataraj and Sajan Prakash have the capacity to make the 'A' cut in short distances. We have some distance swimmers coming up which is quite unusual. Earlier, we were never that good in endurance events. Now, are improving drastically in distance swimming. Youngsters like Aryan Nehra, Advait Page, Kushagra Rawat are doing a fairly decent time. Earlier, an Indian going under 15 minutes for the mile was unheard of. Now we have three and with a little improvement, the future looks good."