KARACHI: The best swimmers of the province made a big splash at the Karachi Parsi Institute (KPI) as where seven records were broken on the opening day of the 23rd Palmolive Sindh Women’s Swimming Championship here on Saturday morning.

The championship usually held at the Karachi Gymkhana pool for several years now came back to the serene surroundings of KPI, which has the honour of producing exceptional swimmers who have over the years made it to the international level for Pakistan.

About the championship, Dinaz Irani, president of Karachi Women’s Swimming Association (KWSA), the organisers, said that the provincial swimming championships have been instrumental in providing the opportunity to female swimmers of Sindh to make it to the national level and then on to the international arena.

“It is the nursery of our swimming talent that has dominated Pakistan’s swimming,” she said.

Among the action, in the meantime, the swimmers participating in freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, individual medley, freestyle relay and medley relay competed in six age groups — eight and under, nine to 10, 11 to 12, 13 to 14, 15 to 16 and open group.

Last year’s youngest swimmer Daniya Bhatia, who was only five years old then, and who had to be rescued from the middle of the pool by an older and stronger swimmer after she froze on seeing older girls overtaking her, looked far more confident this year as she effortlessly finished her race.

“She’s six now and more at ease with the idea of competition,” the child’s mother shared with a smile.

Meanwhile, there was another youngest swimmer this time around in five-year-old Shanzeh Bari of Bay View Academy, completing in not one, not two but three events, namely freestyle, backstroke and breaststroke. On coming out of the pool each time, the little girl was handed a towel by an older girl in the same team.

“That’s her elder sister, eight-year-old Haya Bari, who adores her little sister and is very proud of her but Shanzeh, being very competitive by nature, wants to beat her sister in all races,” the girls’ mother, cheering them from the sidelines, shared.

The mothers, except for mothers of independent swimmers, were not allowed in the participants’ area where they were cared for by their team managers. Among the technical officials, the marshals were also busy lining up the swimmers for the events according to their names and lanes while the time keepers kept time. “Timekeeping is a very serious and important responsibility. That’s why we have three time keepers per swimmer. In case our times don’t match we take all three readings to take out the average,” Darakhshan Ahsan Elahi, a time keeper, informed.

Finally, one’s heart went out to young Miraal Rasool, a star national swimmer in the 10-and-under age group, with her right arm in a sling. Miraal, who swims for defending champions Karachi Grammar School, will be watching from the sidelines this year.

“Well, there is always next year,” someone said to her while trying to lift her spirits but she smiled and explained that by next year she would be competing in the 11 to 12 age category. “It will be my disadvantage year as I will be the younger one in that category with older and stronger 12-year-olds competing against me,” she pointed while out putting on a brave smile.

Records:

Open Age 200m Backstroke:Areeba Shaikh, Karachi American School, New Time: 2:47.67. Previous record was set at 2:49.75.

Open Age 400m IM: Simrah Nasir, Karachi Grammar School, New Time: 6:08.95. Previous record was set at 6:11.83.

Open Age 100m Butterfly:Miraal Haque, The Indus Academy, New Time:1:14.91. Previous record was set at 1:17.23.

Age 10 and Under 50m Backstroke: Fatima Lotia, Bayview Academy, New Time:40.80. Previous record was set at 40.59.

Age 12 and Under 50m Breaststroke: Ramsha Imran, Karachi Club, New Time:38.58. Previous record was set at 38.78.

Age 14 and Under 200m IM: Simrah Nasir, Karachi Grammar School, New Time: 2: 54.31. Previous record was set at 2:54.63.

Age 16 and Under 50m Backstroke: Areeba Shaikh, Karachi American School, New Time: 35.07. Previous record was set at 35.33.

Published in Dawn, November 8th, 2015

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