All-weather swimming pool ready to host 'Khelo India Games' in Ambala

Nitish Sharma

Ambala, May 22

Haryana’s first government all-weather 10-lane swimming pool is all set to host its first mega event during the upcoming Khelo India Youth Games.

Initially the project at the War Heroes Memorial Stadium was to upgrade the seasonal swimming pool to an all-weather Olympics’ standard pool at a cost of Rs 18 crore. But later more facilities, including a warm-up pool, mess, rooms for swimmers, increase in the seating capacity for visitors to 700 and other equipment, were included. As a result, the cost also increased to Rs 38 crore.

An official said during the games, 544 swimmers would be participating, of whom 16 are from Haryana. However, no swimmer from Ambala would be participating in the games this year as the pool in Ambala was under construction for the past three years and the swimmers couldn’t qualify due to the lack of practice. The new pool has the swim timing touchpad system to ensure transparency during the games. Soon the facility of underwater camera for the technical stroke analysis of swimmers would also be introduced here.

District swimming coach Ram Sharma said, “The pool has been constructed as per the standards of Fédération Internationale de Natation. In the absence of an all-weather pool, our professional swimmers used to go to Pune and Bengaluru for practice as the seasonal pool used to remain closed for at least five months in a year. Now all swimmers of Haryana will be able to practice throughout the year.”

“We have nearly 70 professional swimmers and around 10 beginners. With the new facility coming into operation, we are hopeful that a large number of swimmers will again start practising here and perform on the national and international level. Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij has played a crucial role in the upgrade work of the swimming complex. Recently, Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs Sandeep Singh visited the pool and issued directions to set up a sauna bath and steam bath facilities for the players,” he added.

District Sports Officer Ram Niwas Daksh said, “Swimmers will now have the facility to practice all 12 months. We are hopeful that Ambala will get the opportunity to host more national-level games every year.”

Remained closed for 5 years

The pool was first constructed in 1989 and the then general secretary of the Haryana Swimming Association, JG Sharma, had played an important role in its construction. The pool remained closed from 2009 to 2014 for different reasons. It was again started in 2015 after some repair, and in 2019, the upgrade work was started.