Collective responsibility of swimming community to grow sport in India: Nisha Millet

Bengaluru: For every athlete, the goal is to always dream big. However, the question is also invariably about how big is a big enough dream?

Addressing the swimmers competing in the third edition of the All-India Nettakallappa Swimming Championships, Olympian Nisha Millet stressed on this conundrum. 

“I remember watching the Barcelona Olympics (1992) as a 10-year-old and telling my parents that I wanted to go to the Olympics one day,” the 42-year-old Arjuna Awardee began. 

“Thankfully, my parents didn’t laugh at my declaration that helped shape my next few years as a swimmer. When I did make it to the Olympics eight years later (2000 Sydney Games), I was all emotional and overwhelmed about realising my dream during the opening ceremony,” continued Nisha, who took part in the women’s 200m freestyle race. 

“At that very moment, there sat a stranger boy next to me with a straight face. This kid would go on to become India’s first individual gold medallist eight years later (2008 Beijing Games). So, I asked Abhinav Bindra about our first encounter where he seemed relaxed and unbothered unlike the rest of us. It was his first Games as well and he said: ‘Nisha, my dream was never to only make it to the Olympics, yeah I was happy but.. It was always to win the Olympic gold,” she reminisced. 

Citing this anecdote as a backdrop to ask the Next Gen of swimmers to break barriers, the mother of twins, went on to speak about the collective responsibility of the swimming community to grow the sport in India. And events such as the one hosted by the Nettakallappa Aquatic Centre (NAC), with cash incentives and unique race formats, play a vital role, according to Nisha. 

“The swimmers of these age groups (13 to 15 and above) are the future. We need to keep them involved and motivated by doing events such as this with prize money, the glamour and doing interviews or being on the big screen which brings that excitement to our sport.”

Pradeep back in B’luru

One of Indian swimming’s most decorated coaches, S Pradeep Kumar, who had shifted base to Dubai from Bengaluru in 2016, is back to the city for good, reports DHNS. 

The 61-year-old Dronacharya awardee - who trained several champions including a slew of Olympians such as Nisha, Rehan Poncha, Aaron D’Souza among others at the Basavanagudi Aquatic Centre (BAC) for 29 years - told DH that after a long career spanning 37 years, he is currently enjoying a much-needed break. 

“Yes, I came back in early September. I still go to the pool to swim, workout and watch kids train. But, as of now, I have no plans to get back to coaching,” said Pradeep who was at the NAC to witness some weekend swimming competition.