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The Hindu
04-07-2025
- Sport
- The Hindu
Chris Martin Indian swimming big road to hope
In a little more than a year, National Programme Director Chris Martin, a seasoned swim coach who has worked in leading nations such as the USA, Great Britain and China, has identified what prevents Indian swimmers from reaching the elite level. He has also started working on a long-term vision. In order to assess the situation, Martin first conducted three-day workshops in different States, including Tamil Nadu, Bengal, Kerala and Karnataka. 'The honest opinion is that he believes our Indian coaching system [to be] caught [up] in the 80s,' said Swimming Federation of India (SFI) secretary Monal Chokshi. Consequently, Martin has conducted some courses 'which are finding acceptance among younger coaches'. The SFI is also carrying out a National Talent Pool (NTP) programme, looking to make a mark by 2030. Recently, it sent 30 swimmers in their late teens for a high altitude camp in Armenia and expects positive results in the coming months. During the National aquatics championships in Bhubaneswar in the last week of June, Martin spoke to The Hindu about the overall health of Indian swimming. Excerpts: What have you seen in one year? I was brought here to do a two-tier project — to do coach education and open a development pathway and try to get the kids on long-term athlete development. In a year, I've seen us get started in both, but I've also seen the tremendous amount that has to be done for that to succeed. Can you highlight the areas of improvement? We have to take a long-term athlete development approach. That involves a certain amount of training in a certain amount of years and to not be completely obsessed with medals along the way. If I open your newspaper, they'll say so-and-so won five never tell me the age…[and] the time. To get to the world standard, those are the two most important things. I feel we've made some efforts in both, really educating the kids on how they grow up and how training is presented to them about what they can do down the line rather than what they can just get right now. You're working with different coaches and systems all over the country. I also work for World Aquatics in coach education. I kind of brought one of the systems that we've done there to here. We've got an online introduction and then we have Level 1 and 2 courses. We've already put 100 coaches through Level 1 and another 80 in the wait-list from the online version. We've had 40 go through Level 2. The coaches' education, the expansion of knowledge is ongoing. Looking at the advanced countries, what is the best model for India to follow? The people that get to the top of the Olympic Games take an LTAV [Long Term Asset Value] approach — they're building people like you grow a tree. No one's measuring a tree by how many inches it grows in each year because it's organic. And, human beings are of the problems here is that there's a whole lot of swimming for money. Learn to swim, it's all cash business. People want to rush to have a five-year-old swim too long, or a six-year-old do this gets you set off on the wrong way. It has to match the growth rates of the kids. Is it like what they say in athletics, 'Don't specialise so early'? True, you don't want to do that. We've made some trying to take the 50-metre events out of the kids too young so that they can at least get some aerobic development. We've tried to separate the sub-juniors from the juniors because we have 11-year-olds saying, 'I'm the champion of India'. If you do that, what's the incentive for them to be the real champion of India, or even the champion of the world? Does the system, or the swimmers or the coaches, need to unlearn something? That's a tough all of them need to do is to stop focusing on age group success. Most of the people that are in the Olympic finals, they are people that made the final push in their late teens, early twenties, and no one told them they were great when they were 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. That needs to be unlearned. Should there not be any expectations from the age group ?Yeah, where I come from [USA], people put their kids in swimming to have fun, to have an activity, to learn and grow, and to get the lessons from swimming that go into regular life. I do run into parents who put their kids in swimming and say, 'Okay, if I don't get a medal by this year or two years, I'm getting you out, and there's a better use of time and money.' Which is obviously right, but we're not going to climb the world scale with that attitude. What kind of natural talent have you seen here? I'll give you this example, and it combines your question about natural talent and what needs to be unlearned. This Odisha project with JSW, which is a fantastic thing, they've reams and reams of little kids that they're starting to teach and engage...I looked at the smallest kids [who] were swimming backstroke in a very, very good position. I went to the juniors, only 50% of them were doing that. I went to the seniors, only less than a handful. The reason? I feel when those seniors were small kids, their parents paid for them to be able to learn 'backstroke' at a ridiculously early age and the proprioceptive model of how children move was not consulted. What's the most heartening thing you've seen? The response to the NTP has been very heartening. I make the kids write a logbook in the couple of weeks they spend with me, and what they write is absolutely fascinating. What's the craziest thing? The same thing. When I had 30 kids write a logbook, and they were ready to go home, I said, 'Here's your logbooks'. They said, 'No you give them to us, our parents and coaches, mainly our parents, will want to read what's inside.' I thought that was crazy. Is it important to integrate all sorts of swimming clinics, coaching clubs? It's pretty much impossible, and what we can do is try to get a base level of what I've done with that. In terms of integration, sports seems to be a business here. People are selling certificates, credentials, programmes, support networks and all this, selling supplements, selling everything. It's impossible to integrate that when so many people are trying to make economic short-term gains. I find the people running the SFI are that has been told to me has been very reasonable. I do find there's a big road to hope. It's a large mountain.
The Hindu
27-06-2025
- Sport
- The Hindu
India pins its hopes on divers at Asian swimming championships
Entrusted with the responsibility of reviving the Asian swimming championships in Ahmedabad after a nine-year gap in October, the Swimming Federation of India (SFI) is not only looking at showcasing its organisational ability but also backing its divers to achieve worthwhile results in the continental event. Competing alongside global swimming powers such as China, Japan and Korea at the newly-built 'world class venue,' India is pinning its hopes on its divers. 'There's reasonable expectation that we may have a medal in diving. We've sent our divers for a one-month training programme in Malaysia, where they can get a little bit of informal judging. Their scores can be realistically projected. An Australian coach (Shannon Roy) is working with them, particularly in the men's synchronised diving event, where we are targeting a medal. They were supposed to go to Australia for a competition, but couldn't get visas. We are looking at other competitions,' SFI secretary Monal Chokshi told The Hindu. 'We are having a water polo camp (for 25 men and 25 women) from January in Bangalore. We will be selecting the best 14 and four reserves. We are planning to send them to an eastern European country for training in the last one month of preparation. 'We will bring back one of the coaches (Babovic Miodrag and Anderic Nemanja) who were working with our teams for the Asian Games preparation, but the teams were not cleared. This Asian Championships is going to be also the Asian Games qualifier with the top-six qualifying. After 1986, we have never played at the Asian Games. So we hope to break the jinx.' The SFI expects good performances from four swimmers. 'In terms of medals, we are very unsure. We have good prospects. Srihari (Nataraj), Benediction Rohit has performed exceptionally well. We have seen some great performances from Shoan Ganguly as well as Aryan Nehra. We'll be holding the India camp for two months at the same venue,' said Chokshi.
The Hindu
27-06-2025
- Sport
- The Hindu
SFI harbours medal hopes at Asian swimming championships in Ahmedabad
Entrusted with the responsibility of hosting the first edition of the Asian championships since 2016, the Swimming Federation of India (SFI) is not only looking at showcasing its organisational ability but also backing its divers and water polo teams to achieve worthwhile results in the continental event when it takes place in Ahmedabad in October. Competing alongside top countries such as China, Japan and South Korea at the newly-built 'world class venue,' India is pinning its hopes on its divers. 'There's reasonable expectation that we may have a medal in diving. We've sent our divers for a one-month training programme in Malaysia, where they can get a little bit of informal judging. Their scores can be realistically projected. An Australian coach (Shannon Roy) is working with them, particularly in the men's synchronised diving event, where we are targeting a medal. They were supposed to go to Australia for a competition, but couldn't get visas. We are looking at other competitions,' SFI secretary Monal Chokshi told Sportstar. 'We are having a water polo camp (for 25 men and 25 women) from January in Bangalore. We will be selecting the best 14 and four reserves. We are planning to send them to an eastern European country for training in the last one month of preparation. ALSO READ | Mind and body are in sync, I've developed as an athlete: Srihari Nataraj 'We will bring back one of the coaches (Babovic Miodrag and Anderic Nemanja) who were working with our teams for the Asian Games preparation, but the teams were not cleared. This Asian championships is going to be also the Asian Games qualifier with the top-six qualifying. After 1986, we have never played at the Asian Games. So we hope to break that jinx.' The SFI expects good performances from four swimmers. 'In terms of medals, we are very unsure. We have good prospects. Srihari (Nataraj), Benedicton Rohit has performed exceptionally well. We have seen some great performances from Shoan Ganguly as well as Aryan Nehra. We'll be holding the India camp for two months at the same venue,' said Chokshi. With a new swimming pool set to be inaugurated in Ahmedabad in a few days, Chokshi believes that it will help India in bidding for the 2030 Commonwealth Games and the 2036 Olympics. Chokshi said in this backdrop 'the ecosystem was very receptive to the thought of hosting a large international event' and hosting the Asian championships would 'demonstrate our capacity to hold international events'. 'Across all disciplines we would have roughly about 1500-1600 athletes (from diving, swimming, water polo and artistic swimming). The competition is staggered because it's a single 50m pool, a warm-up pool of 25m and a diving well. The swimming and diving events will start on September 26,' informed Chokshi.
The Hindu
27-06-2025
- Sport
- The Hindu
India gearing up to host Asian Swimming Championships 2025
Entrusted with the responsibility of hosting the revival edition of the Asian championships in Ahmedabad in October after a nine-year gap, the Swimming Federation of India (SFI) is not only looking at showcasing its organisational ability but also backing its divers and water polo teams to achieve worthwhile results in the continental event. Competing against top countries such as China, Japan and Korea at the newly built 'world-class venue,' India is pinning its hopes on its divers. 'There's a reasonable expectation that we may have a medal in diving. We've sent our divers for a one-month training programme in Malaysia, where they can get a bit of informal judging. Their scores can be realistically projected. An Australian coach (Shannon Roy) is working with them, particularly in the men's synchronised diving event, where we are targeting a medal. They were supposed to go to Australia for a competition, but couldn't get visas. We are looking at other competitions,' SFI secretary Monal Chokshi told The Hindu. 'We are having a water polo camp (for 25 men and 25 women) from January in Bangalore. We will be selecting the best 14 and four reserves. We are planning to send them to an eastern European country for training in the last one month of preparation. 'We will bring back one of the coaches (Babovic Miodrag and Anderic Nemanja) who were working with our teams for the Asian Games preparation, but the teams were not cleared. This Asian Championship is also going to be the Asian Games qualifier, with the top six qualifying. After 1986, we have never played at the Asian Games. So we hope to break that jinx.' The SFI expects good performances from four swimmers. 'In terms of medals, we are very unsure. We have good prospects. Srihari (Nataraj), Benediction Rohit has performed exceptionally well. We have seen some great performances from Shoan Ganguly as well as Aryan Nehra. We'll be holding the India camp for two months at the same venue,' said Chokshi.
New Indian Express
25-06-2025
- Sport
- New Indian Express
Teenager Rishabh re-writes 200m backstroke national record
CHENNAI: Rising star Rishabh Das is making a habit of breaking records. The 17-year-old was the cynosure of all eyes in the ongoing 78th Senior National Aquatic Championships 2025 in Bhubaneshwar on Wednesday as he pocketed the 200m backstroke gold medal with a sizzling effort. He stopped the clock at 2:00.65s, smashing the national record that was previously owned by Olympian Srihari Nataraj. What was more impressive was the fact that did it by two whole seconds. "Actually, my race strategy in the previous heats was to push the next 100, not the first 100. But today (Wednesday), my race strategy was to push from the start for the whole 200. So that helped me to drop the time. It was painful, but it was worth it," explained Rishabh, while talking about the strategy he employed to return with a record run. He was not even aiming for the record and was just looking to improve his previous best. "I was just trying to improve myself. I was just thinking to break my personal time, trying to get to two minutes," he said. Clearly, it turned out to be one heck of an improvement in the end. Like many great things, Rishabh's introduction to the sport was completely by chance as he was spotted during a talent search programme organised by the coach of the swimming team of Fr Agnels School in Vashi, Navi Mumbai, Gokul Kamath. "We start selections right from the age of four and five. And Rishabh was a part of the first talent search, which we did in 2012. He was barely four-and-a-half-years-old. So we've been training him from that time. He started doing good and went for the national level for the first time in the Under 10 nationals in Pune, 2017, and his major successes came, in fact, during COVID, when he really outperformed," said Kamath, reminiscing about his early days. He also believed that apart from the support from the Swimming Federation of India (SFI) — especially from Chris Martin, the National Program Director and one of Rishabh's coaches — and the Sports Authority of India (SAI), parental support has played a pivotal role in Rishabh's development, a fact which Rishabh acknowledged. "I started winning district medals about one-and-a-half-years after joining in 2012, after which, I started gaining interest. My parents decided that we'll continue swimming to see what we can get. It's been 13 years since then, and my parents have made a lot of sacrifices. Hats off to them! They're working way more harder than me, actually," he emphasized. The teenager has had a steady evolution and he's no stranger to displaying eye-catching performances. Rishabh, who had been studying clips of the current Olympic 200m backstroke gold medallist Hubert Kos before competing for the 200m backstroke events, had previously dominated the junior nationals at the same venue last year, winning four medals and he had also re-written the 50m backstroke national mark then. His latest national record meant that he receives a B grade qualifications into the World Aquatic Championships, which is scheduled to be held in Singapore in July. When asked about his future plans, he said, "My current focus remains on the World Junior Championships, which will be held in Romania. Whether I participate in the World Championships or not will be decided later with my coaches. Of course, my ultimate goal is to go to Olympics, but I'm not thinking about it right now. I just want to improve my time, and get better day by day. If I can do that, then someday, I'll surely go to the Olympics." Meanwhile, Dhinidhi Desinghu swam a sizzling 100 freestyle, clocking 56.78 seconds to break the earlier record while Benediction Rohit, who had re-raised the national record earlier, made the World Championships cut after clocking 24.11s in 50m butterfly, claiming the gold medal in the process.
