The Department of Sports Government of Odisha, in partnership with the Kalinga Aquatic Club and JSW Sports, has launched the Kalinga Super Swimming Series for young swimmers in the State in an exciting effort to promote swimming in the state and find unique potential.
A number of contests will be staged over the period of five months, giving swimmers throughout Odisha a stage on which to demonstrate their abilities and potential.
Swimmers can take part in this series and show off their abilities in several swimming categories.
The Kalinga Super Swimming Series’ main goal is to give swimmers from all around Odisha a place to compete in competition simulations and show off their skills. The Sports and Youth Services Department and JSW Sports hope to discover untapped talent and develop it to its maximum potential by conducting this series.
Head coach of the Odisha JSW Swimming High-Performance Center, Sandeep Sejwal, discussed the importance of the endeavour.
He said, “This is part of a series of key initiatives that are in place to identify talent in Odisha. In the last few months, we have scouted over 34 swimmers with promising potential and have inducted them into the Swimming HPC program.” He further commended the Government of Odisha for its support towards the sport of swimming in the state and the importance of infrastructure and accessibility, he said, “The state has empowered swimmers with great infrastructure both at the state and district level.
Our partnership ensures quality training under expert coaches. We are running a grassroots program across 13 swimming pools in the state, and we will continue to grow. Accessibility of competition and infrastructure is a crucial part of identifying champions and that is why we will also be hosting a few Kalinga Swim Series in Sambalpur, Rourkela and maybe even Puri.”
Almost 200 people competed in 18 events at 07th May 2023’s event at the Biju Patnaik Swimming Pool at the Kalinga Stadium. 400 metre freestyle, 50/100 metre breaststroke and 100 metre butterfly were among the categories.
Ansika Sahoo won two gold medals—one in the 400 m freestyle and one in the 100 m breaststroke.
Mannata Mishra won a gold medal in the 100-meter breaststroke.
Gold was awarded to Bikash Haripal in the 400 m freestyle.
In the 100-meter breaststroke, Pawan Gupta won one gold medal. They are all High-Performance Center swimmers.
The recent victory in the Thailand Age Swimming Tournament by the trainees from the Odisha JSW Swimming High-Performance Centre is proof of the talent and skill of the swimmers in Odisha.
With high aspirations for finding more outstanding swimmers who can elevate the state’s name to greater heights, their achievement has sparked enthusiasm and anticipation for the Kalinga Swimming Fest.
The Kalinga Swimming Series is a ray of hope for the future of swimming in the area, and Odisha is poised to become a swimming powerhouse with the help of such initiatives.
Prasanta Patnaik