No practice, swimmers want city pools opened

Deepankar Sharda

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 22

As the Ministry of Sports allowed opening of certain sports complexes across the nation, local swimmers are now demanding opening of pools.

Mohali’s Jasnoor Kaur, a national-level medallist, has written to the MHA and the Sports Minister for allowing them to practise for a limited duration in a week. “We have no place to practise. We want that pools should be open for professionals. After the lifting of the lockdown, the tournaments will start in no time and we may not have enough time to work on our performance,” said Jasnoor.

She added: “If the government has opened malls and shopping centres and other sports complexes, then swimming pools should also be allowed to operate. If other athletes can follow social distancing while training, the competitive swimmers can do the same as well. No amount of out-of-water training can compare with the workouts we undertake inside the water,” added Jasnoor.

As per the Sports Authority of India (SAI), swimming has been kept under category-D, which is the last priority for the Sports Department.

“We have all-weather pools in Chandigarh that can cater to the need of the swimmers even during the ongoing conditions,” said Atul, a swimmer.

Another major concern of the swimmers remained repair of the swimming pools. “The pools have been closed from the past three months. After the government allows opening them, it will take at least a month to repair the centres across the nation. Swimmers have been forced to quit because they cannot support their livelihood,” said Tanya, another swimmer.

There are four all-weather swimming pools in Chandigarh and Mohali that operate even in winters for professionals.