National Aquatic Championships 2023: Over 900 swimmers to compete

 The Swimming Federation of India (SFI) along with the Odisha State Government will host the 39th Sub-Junior and 49th Junior National Aquatic Championships 2023 in Bhubaneswar, Odisha starting August 16.

The five-day swimming extravaganza will witness over 900 swimmers from 25 states including the Services Sports Control Board dive into the newly-built state-of-the-art indoor Aquatic Centre inside the iconic Kalinga Sports Complex.

The swim meet will be a qualifying event for the forthcoming Asian Age Group Championships to be held in Philippines in December. The Asian Age Group Championships will also be a qualifying meet for the Paris Olympics in 2024.

This new Aquatic Centre is another feather in the cap for the Odisha State Government who have hosted iconic world sporting events, under the leadership of Hon. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik - an avid sports lover who believes that investment in sports is an investment in youth, investment in youth is an investment in the future.

Ahead of the event, Sports Minister, Government of Odisha, Tusharkanti Behera said, “We are delighted to host yet another Aquatic Nationals in Odisha. In association with SFI we want to give participating swimmers the best of experience here at the new indoor aquatic centre at Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. I extend a warm welcome to all and wish them the very best”

He further added, “Swimming is amongst the priority sports for us, and hence besides hosting events we are promoting Swimming as a life skill and competitive sports. We have developed 13 swimming grassroots centers across the states which are run under the aegis of expert coaches. We are also empowering our elite swimmers through our High-Performance program and quality infrastructure.”

Expressing their gratitude to the state, Monal Chokshi, Secretary General of Swimming Federation of India (SFI), said, “We are very pleased to host the Sub Junior and Junior National Championships at the fantastic new aquatic complex at the Kalinga Stadium. This will give our junior swimmers the experience of racing in a world class venue. We are grateful for the support from the Odisha State Government who have ensured the venue is competition-ready.”

“This competition is a marquee event in the SFI annual calendar with top swimmers in sub-junior and junior categories vying to make the selection criteria for the Asian Age Group Championships,” added Chokshi.

While the host state Odisha State Swimming Association will see a total of 32 swimmers including 17 male and 15 female swimmers take part with promising swimmers like Divyanka Dibyajyoti Prdhan, Mannata Mishra, Anshuman Vashist in group I, in group II Yatharth Dev Panda vying for a podium finish, defending champions Karnataka will look to bag the top honours yet again with a strong contingent of 74 swimmers including 37 male and 37 female participants.

Swimmers to watch out for this edition are Ishan Mehera, Rishabh Das, Arnav Kadu and Ronak Sawanth among the boys and among the girls, top contenders are Palak Joshi, Riddhima Veerendra, Aashika Ramchandra, Dhinidhi Desingu, Prathiksha Dange, Raghvi Ramanujam, Rujutha Rajagneya. (ANI)