City’s should ensure sporting talent is nurtured

Swimming trophies bask by the pool at the Kamgar Krida Bhavan, which has one of the few Olympic-sized pools in the city

This paper's Sunday edition had a meaty news feature about a sports complex at Lower Parel-Elphinstone-Prabhadevi - call it what you will - undergoing a facelift. The stadium that was part of the former mill hub's identity is being transformed with archery and rifle shooting ranges. The biggest lure of this space for years was its Olympic-size swimming pool, that saw so many swimmers from middle class families and water polo players, too, hone their skill there.

In this report about its transformation, former players and swimmers spoke about how their lives were actually shaped and transformed by this facility. Coaches who were so dedicated to their sport actually spent their lifetime at this space training their wards.

We need to have more of this solid, sans pretentiousness and frills but hygienic and working sporting infra which is accessible to all. Club memberships are out of reach for the majority. What this city needs is more youngsters playing, whetting their appetite for competitions. When we talk about grass-roots sport, we mean that sporting infra should exist at grass-roots level, with that, changing rooms, rest rooms, drinking water facilities and the provision to get athletes to a medical facility in case of any emergency.

All we need is maintenance and cleanliness and affordable fees. A former water polo administrator made a pertinent comment in the news report. He said that infra like this fulfils a purpose of being available to a demographic that may find it difficult to find a pool to swim in or courts to play on. Make more such avenues for athletes, as our Asian Games 100-plus medals tally shows us that champions can and do come from any and everywhere.