Top swimmers ready to set the pool ablaze in the Nettakallappa meet

Olympian Sajan Prakash will inaugurate the event.

Bengaluru, November 9: The two-day Nettakallappa National Swimming Championship will begin at the Nettakallappa Aquatic Centre (NAC) in Uttarahalli Main Road in Padmanabhanagar, on Saturday (November 12).

The event to commemmorate the 10th anniversary of NAC will see some of the top swimmers such as Siva Sridhar, Vaishnav Hegde, Dhanush S, Ridhima Veerendra Kumar set the pool ablaze.

The NAC stands in memory of the late K A Nettakallappa who left a lasting impression as a great patron of sports as well as an administrator of vision.

Built on 1.5 acres of land, the spacious NAC has a 50M eight-lane pool and a 25M pool with anti-wave lanes besides a 5x10M toddler pool.

The centre, designed by SEARCH Foundation, pioneers in the field of Swimming Education Research and Development, has an anti-skid deck-area and adjacent to the pool is a two-storey building which has rest rooms for boys and girls as well as a multi-purpose gym.

India's Olympian swimmer Sajan Prakash will inaugurate the event on Saturday at 6pm.

The event, which offers a total prize money of Rs 10 lakhs, will see competitions for boys and girls in three categories -- Senior, Group 1 (15-17 years) and Group II (12-14 years).

In a break from the tradition, the 50M events will be held at the short-course pool and will be held in accordance with the SKINS format which is beging followed by the International Swimming League, where the normal final with eight competitors is done away with and instead replaced with three races separated by a few minutes break.

In the first race, the three swimmers who bring up the rear will be eliminated, followed by two swimmers in the second.

In the third and final race, only the top three will compete for podium places.

More than 250 talented swimmers from across the country are expected to participate in the event which will conclude on Sunday (November 13).