Historic swimming contingent for Asiad, just the beginning, SFI General Secretary

CHENNAI: The Swimming Federation of India on Saturday announced the 23-member squad for the  Asian Games for swimming and diving. For the first time since 2006, nine women players will represent India in the event.

“We are extremely happy that we have been able to have many swimmers qualify,” Monal Chokshi, General Secretary of the SFI, told this daily. Further adding, “The team is almost double what was participating in 2018. That 11 swimmers at that time. We have 21 swimmers and out of that also, we have nine girls, which is also our first since 2006. We are delighted that all the swimmers are progressing and they achieved the qualification benchmark.”

The women’s contingent will include Tokyo Olympian Maana Patel along with Linyesha AK, who bagged the best female swimmer at the Senior National Aquatic Championship. Anannya Nayak, Hashika Ramachandra and Nina Venkatesh broke the national records in the national championship will also travel to Hangzhou.

Chokshi believes that exposure to events like Asian Games is necessary for the development of the young contingent. “Unless and until they get the international exposure of major needs and they know how to compose themselves during such a large event, you cannot expect the medals from this younger group. This developmental exposure will propel them towards the 2024 Paris and 28 Los Angeles Olympics,” the SFI office-bearer added.

The recently concluded National Championship in Hyderabad showcased the increasing talent pool in the country, where young swimmers across categories broke 18 national records. Chokshi is happy with the increasing depth of the sport in India but firmly believes there is room for improvement in the rise in podium finishes.

“Our base in India, the top in the younger junior and the senior categories are certainly improving, but we still need to increase the base in terms of grassroots participation to target long-term Olympic podium finishes. I think we need to increase the base at the grassroots level five times more than what we have at present,” he concluded.

Squads:

Swimming (Men): Aneesh S Gowda, Advait Page, Aryan Nehra, Anand AS, Kushagra Rawat, Likith SP, Sajan Prakash, Srihari Nataraj, Tanish George Mathew, Utkarsh Santosh Patil, Vishal Grewal,  Virdhawal Khade.

Swimming (Women): Anannya Nayak, Dinidhi Desinghu, Hashika Ramchandran, Linyesha AK, Maana Patel, Nina Venkatesh, Palak Joshi, Shivangi Sarma, Vritti Agarwal.

Diving: Siddharth Bajrang Pardeshi, Heman London Singh.