BHOPAL: Sanidhya Chouksey, a national medallist from Bhopal, is fearing poor performance in the next national swimming meet. Reason: Closed swimming pools in the state capital have snatched the opportunity from him to practice while swimmers of other states are sweating hard as the pools have been opened in their states. Sandihya and other swimmers have demanded opening of pools for practice.
The swimmers said that other states including Delhi and Karnataka have already opened the pools and the practice of other competitors is on in full swing. “As a result, other state swimmers have been training and are at an edge in terms of performance in comparison to MP swimmers. In the upcoming nationals, we will have to face swimmers who had a better practice than we had. Will it be a fair competition?”
Swimmer Vidhi Jaiswal said that swimming pools should be opened at least for the swimmers who have to participate in state and national level championships. “Let us practise and prepare ourselves for the national championship,” said Vidhi.
“Even if the pools open up today, we are still 2 months behind,” said another national swimmer Vanshaj Khanna.
A delegation of the Madhya Pradesh Swimming Association (MPSA) has also presented a memorandum to home minister Narottam Mishra.
Joint secretary, MPSA, Ramkumar Khilrani said, “Swimmers are not getting trained as pools are closed. We had urged the home minister that the pools must be opened at the earliest. We are waiting for his response,” said Khilrani.
Khilrani said that the association has assured the state government that they will follow all Covid protocols.
