Uttarakhand National Games: Swimmers schedule in disarray, hockey turf in Roshnabad yet to be cleaned

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The clash of triathlon competition dates with pre-event practice of swimmers forced several players to skip morning practice on Monday at the newly built swimming pool near Haldwani. The triathlon event of the 38th Uttarakhand National Games started on January 26 and concluded on January 30.

Officially the National Games will open on Tuesday and Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate games that will conclude February 14. The opening ceremony will take place at Dehradun's Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium.

The swimming and water polo competition will start on January 29 at the newly built swimming complex near Haldwani.

"The pool has been closed till 1 pm today due to a triathlon event," swimmers who went to practice in the morning were told by the local officials.

Call it a communication gap or lack of foresight between two state units, Monday scheduled of the swimmers was certainly in disarray. "It was a challenging task to go back to the hotel and come again post lunch to have a feel of the pool," one of the parents said.

Sunaina Kumari, head of Uttarakhand's National Games Technical Conduct Committee wasn't available for her comments. Even DK Singh, secretary of Uttarakhand Olympic Association didn't respond to calls.

Monal Chokshi, general secretary of the Swimming Federation of India told Mykhel that despite repeated efforts there are huge logistical problems ahead of the National Games. "The official accommodation of the National Technical Official is some 30km from the competition venue in Bhimtal," Chokshi added. "The official accommodation of swimmers is roughly two hours by road near Jim Corbett Park."

To save time and energy several swimmers having sponsors booked their own accommodation. Unfortunately, many swimmers don't have the financial resources to make their own arrangements, one of officials associated with the development said.
"We have told the organisers to make a temporary arrangement at the venue for players to take a break as logistically it might not be possible to travel from hotel to venue in the morning and rush back again in evening for finals," Chokshi said.

The swimming competition starts on January 29. The morning session will commence 8.30 onwards while the evening session will start from 4.30 pm.

"We might have to start as early as 6 am to reach the venue before 8.30 am," one of the technical officials staying in Bhimtal told Mykhel.

Delhi's Deputy Chef de Mission Raj Kumar was clueless about state swimmers' accommodation. "As of now, I don't know about the stay. Will update later on," Raj Kumar said. He is also one of the technical officials at the National Games.

Miles away from Haldwani, all is not as good at Roshnabad's Vandana Kataria Hockey Stadium. The hockey pitch needs to be properly cleaned before the hockey competition that starts on February 4. "The state camp is in progress at the Roshnabad Hockey Stadium and the turf would be cleaned two days before the competition," one of the hockey officials said.