Pune: When former India water polo player Arun Merchant bagged a contract to develop and maintain a swimming pool in a small town of Nagothane, with about 600-odd households in the early ’90s, he never thought that it would become a breeding ground for water polo players two decades later.
Nagothane in Raigad district has produced 10 men and five women who have made their mark in international tournaments. While the 25m pool was being constructed at Nagothane, Merchant worried if he could get enough swimmers.
“Water polo is played in an Olympic-size pool (50m), with a depth of at least 7ft,” Merchant (72) said. “I had learnt some coaching methods during my visit to Australia and implemented them in Nagothane,” Merchant added.
“In 2005, we had our first player, Mangesh Patil, in the Indian team,” the veteran said. When Merchant quit coaching in 2015, the baton was taken over by senior players. “Whoever plays in the state and nationals train at the pool,” said Ashwin Kumar Kunde, whose elder brother Akshay Kumar played for Maharashtra and India. Ashwin, along with Sarang Vaidya and Ruturaj Beedkar, has been selected for India camp.
