National Games: SSCB's swimming contingent overcame logistic problems to pocket two medals; Haryana shooter Ramita Jindal bang on target

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Dehradun, Jan 29: The Services Sports Control Board (SSCB) swimming contingent overcame the logistic problem of travelling nearly six hours, including three hours in the morning session, by road from the hotel to the competition venue but were excited to collect gold and silver in the men's platform diving on the opening day of swimming event of the 38th Uttarakhand National Games in Haldwani.

SSCB's N Willson Singh and Amit Dey claimed gold and silver, respectively in the men's platform diving event on Wednesday to give a big boost to the morale of the team. SSCB's 4x100m freestyle relay team, however, didn't add another medal to their tally as they finished seventh.

Services swimmers clinch two medals, Karnataka top the tally

One of the SSCB team officials claimed they were at a disadvantage even before their swimmers splashed the pool due to a hectic travel schedule. "Our hotel is nearly 42km away from the competition venue in Haldwani. One-way road journey generally takes 90 minutes," one of the officials of the SSCB team told Mykhel of the challenging task faced by the team.

"The return journey from the swimming pool to the hotel is a bit longer due to traffic."
SSCB swimming contingent of more than 30 players was allotted official accommodation close to Jim Corbett Park while the competition venue is near Haldwani.

"We had requested to change the accommodation, but nothing happened," the Services team official said of the off-the-field daunting job at hand. Travelling for six hours a day by bus could slow recovery as the evening session starts at 4.30 pm.

"Some of the players don't feel comfortable travelling for long before the competition and might suffer travel sickness," a Services team member added. "It would have been better if our accommodation was close to the venue."

For morning heats, the SSCB team had to wake up at 5.30 am and travel 90 minutes to be on time for the 8.30 am event. Several swimmers including those from Delhi have managed to spend their own money and are staying close to the venue.

Overall, the opening day at the pool belonged to Karnataka. While Karnataka's international swimmer Srihari Nataraj set the ball rolling for his team by successfully defending gold in the men's 200m freestyle with a time of 1:50.57, the swimmers from Southern India won as many gold medals as possible on the opening day.

Boxers Gearing Up in Pithoragarh

Far away up in the hills in Pithoragarh, which is the venue for the boxing competition, almost all the teams arrived on Wednesday (January 29) and boxers were gearing up for a showdown with their opponents. The competition starts on January 31.

"The ring at the indoor competition venue was ready by evening," one of the officials of the Boxing Federation of India (BFI) said. The competition venue is some 10km from the main Pithoragarh city where all the teams have been put up.

Ramita Jindal shoots gold in Dehradun

While at the shooting ranges in Dehradun, Haryana international shooter Ramita Jindal topped the qualification chart in the women's 10m air rifle with a score of 634.9, which was better than the world record of 634.5 set by South Korea's Ban Hyojin at 2024 Paris Olympic Games. The qualification is a 60-shot match. The final of the women's 10m air rifle is scheduled for Thursday (January 30).