PESHAWAR
The future of swimming in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is in doldrums due to the non-availability of the Adil Khan Swimming Pool, Qayum Sports Complex, Peshawar, says Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Swimming Association (KPSA) on Sunday.
In a press statement, it stated that KPSA had formally requested the Director General (DG) Sports, KP on 20th April, last, for the allocation of suitable and convenient timings for swimming so that players may benefit fully without scheduling constraints during school days & summer vacations.
It was also mentioned that appropriate timings will ensure maximum participation and better utilization of the facility.
However, office of the DG, Sports official informed the KPSA that only two out of eight lanes of the swimming pool will be available for the training purposes.
Earlier, Directorate General of Sports allocated two hours dedicated time for the swimmers to do their uninterrupted training.
The representative of the swimming association mentioned that athletics and swimming has most of the medals in the national games, but both the games, specially swimming is neglected in the province. It raises concern that the province may not reach the victory position in the national games.
More importantly, there are five operational public swimming pools in the province and only two qualified coaches are available to train the swimmers. This shows the commitment and priorities of the PTI-led government in the province.
The KPSA has informed that they cannot take any risk and decided not to avail the two lanes of the swimming pool because training could not be conducted in the presence of the general public.
The KPSA also mentioned that swimming pool was constructed to promote the swimming instead of facilitating the general public.
The representative also complained that this is the first time in the history of the swimming pool where players will be trained in the presence of the general public otherwise swimmers were allocated dedicated time for the training purposes.
The swimmers of the KP appealed both to the Minister of Sports and Chief Minister to save their career otherwise they will protest at very forum.
