Indian swimming lacks in scientific help, says coach S Pradeep Kumar

Indian swimmers may have had their best show at the recent Asian Age Group Championships in Bengaluru, bagging an all-time high of 52 medals including 15 gold, 19 silver and 18 bronze.

However, when it comes to overall standards within Asia, let alone at the world stage, Indian swimmers fall a long way back. A lot was expected from a couple of Indians meeting Olympic 'A' qualifying marks from the Asian Age Group meet, but none was achieved.

Though it may be disappointing on that front, national swimming coach and Dronacharya award winner, S Pradeep Kumar is of the view that there is still some hope for the swimmers for next year's Tokyo Olympics, though the road is not so smooth.

"We have 3-4 swimmers who have chances of making the Olympic 'A' qualifying time," Kumar told DNA from Bengaluru, where he was a part of the Asian Age Group meet. "Improvement at this stage is very very tough. Even to go half-a-second faster from their personal best is not easy. But there is still a possibility," Kumar said.

The reasons for not meeting the Olympics 'A' mark last week, according to Kumar, was that "the swimmers have been in competitions continuously. "They have been racing back-to-back in the last two months. First was the Senior World Championships in Korea, followed by the Junior Worlds in Hungary, then the Senior Nationals in Bhopal. It was not possible to achieve 'A' qualification timing," Kumar said.

He said that the likes of backstroker Srihari Nataraj, middle and long-distance freestylers Kushagra Rawat and Advait Page are improving. However, Kumar said that their qualifying chances for the Olympics depended on the programme they follow. Rawat was adjudged the best swimmer in the open category at the Asian Age Group with four individual gold medals (200m, 400m, 800m, 1,500m freestyle), one meet record and a relay gold.

"Funding is the main issue. There is TOPS scheme but they are for people who are medal contenders. Our swimmers have enough exposure but what Indian swimming lacks is scientific help," said Kumar.

Explaining further, Kumar, who is a member of the FINA coaches committee and is currently the head coach of Aqua Nation Sports Academy in Dubai, said: "We need to have all those analysing facilities. Once that is there, anything can happen, we can come close to sending out swimmers for the Olympics.

"What happens currently is that a couple of swimmers have private funding. Kushagra is part of the Glenmark programme, Advait trains in the USA. Srihari is looking for some support like this. What we need is whatever support is coming should be in the right channel, get all of these people training at one centre with all the facilities. We need one high-performance centre with well-trained coaches, proper scientific help for, say nutrition, recovery, etc," said Kumar.

Kumar said that the Indian swimmers, despite lacking the facilities, compete with swimming giants of the world like China, Japan, European countries and the USA. "For any of those boys, Sajan Prakash, Virdhawal Khade, to get into third, fourth or fifth positions in the Asian Games with world-class athletes is commendable. Getting a medal there is like you are in the world level. There is a possibility but you look at the level or performance of the top countries. There is so much of sports culture and sports facility there. They don't have to go outside to train for longer periods. As a country, we are capable of having our own system," he said.

It is, perhaps, here that Australia's three-time Olympic gold medallist Stephanie Rice, who was in Mumbai last week to unveil her plans of setting up a swimming academy in India, could help.

Kumar, who has met Rice on a couple of occasions during the FINA World Championships and the Olympics, was trying to get in touch with Rice to understand her plans. Perhaps, Rice could have travelled to Bengaluru during the same time as the Asian Age Group was being held so that she could have met the Swimming Federation of India officials and taken her plans forward.

Kumar said: "Stephanie's plan to set up an academy in India is exciting. But, we need to know what she is looking for. I sent her a message last week when she was in Mumbai. We (SFI) can also help her out. We need to know what she is looking for. When you have an Olympic champion to train you, our swimmers will be pushed to do better, in training or in competitions. We need to have dozens of swimmers to train together," said Kumar.