Saturday, 18th December 2004
Experiences during national aquatic meets
One of the best things about being a sportsperson is the opportunities one gets to travel and participate in different meets held at different venues. This page is an attempt to briefly describe the different places i visited and some memorable experiences i had there.
Click a location on the Map and it leads to a short description of my experience there.
1. Bangalore (Mar 97, Nov 99, Feb 2000)
Home Sweet Home. Although every year several state level meets are held in bangalore (in which i participate) very few national meets are held, I have participated in only few national level meets at bangalore and those include the 13th South Zone Aquatic Championship (Feb 2000) where we finished runners-up behind Kerala for the waterpolo championship and the 1st Southern State Games (Nov 1999) where in the absence of Kerala we managed to win the championship. I guess most of us were unlucky not to have been able to play in front of a home crowd with home team support. Maybe our performance would have been more inspired then. I have also participated in the Nation Triathalon Championship held here in Mar 1997.
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2. Calcutta (Aug 95,Oct 2000,Oct 2003)
For whatever reasons (more likely political) the West Bengal Swimming Federation gets many opportunities to host national meets despite the fact that they have pathetic facilities (A Swimming Pool they fill with water from the adjoining Salt Lake, Accomodation in the same old Salt Lake Football Stadium which despite being famous and massive is still very-much run-down).
I have so far participated in 3 national meets held at Calcutta, the most when compared to other venues. The first oppurtunity (my second nationals) was the 41st National School Games Aquatic Championships way back in 1995 when i participated in 100 and 200 mts Butterfly reaching the finals in both events. This was my only nationals in Calcutta as a swimmer. Since it was my first visit to Calcutta i took a sightseeing tour and thoroughly enjoyed the guided tour especially the famous Museum and Victoria Memorial.
All the other places i saw were equally enticing and since i am/was a major history buff i enjoyed learning about the Historical Places from the tour guide.(Howrah Bridge was the first thing i saw on reaching Calcutta and it looked impressive). The Trams moving on the road besides the vehicles at a snails pace and the underground metro were something unique that i enjoyed a lot.
The most number of vehicles i see there are Black and Yellow Ambassador taxis which charge a fortune (based on time rather than distance) taking into account the possibility and frequency of Traffic Jams that are common place. Overall this trip was most satisfying.
The next oppurtunity i got was as a waterpolo player representing Karnataka in the 55th Senior National Aquatic Championships in Oct 2000. This was my first Senior Nationals and i was amazed by the level of play of some of the teams, a real eye-opener. We did fairly well at that tournament winning our first game versus Gujarat then losing out to eventual champions Railways.
The latest oppurtunity i got was in the year 2003 (Oct) when the 57th Senior National Aquatic Championships were held here. This time i was the captain of the team and we were the second weakest team overall and the weakest team in our group and predictably ended up losing all three matches (to Indian Police, Bengal and Kerala) by fairly large margins.
This was one of my most disappointing Nationals so far. By my third visit Calcutta had lost its charm and excitement and the city seemed like 'One Big Slum' to me although the metro still has the same effect on me and i would dread having to go to Calcutta (Now called Kolkata) once again.
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3. Chandigarh (Nov 2003)
If I were to sum up the city of Chandigarh in one word it would be 'amazing'. I had the rare opputunity to visit Chandigarh to take part in my one and only All-India Inter University meet representing my university Visvesvariah Technological University in both swimming and Waterpolo.
The meet was held in Nov 2003 when the weather was at its freezing worst. After much deliberation and possibilites of cancellation because of the Afro-Asian Games being held during the same period in Hyderabad, the meet went ahead. From the swimming front i particiapted in 400 mts Individual Medley finishing 6th in the freezing waters ( 4 degree celcius).
I was also the University captain for the waterpolo team and our ambitions of winning a medal was destroyed by terrible refreeing in the lone match we played against the host university.
Other than this the trip was an absolute out of this world experience since Chandigarh is truly a most beautiful city (extremely well planed). Besides this we took a day long trip to Shimla, an experience i will never forget in my life. The sights we saw were a treat to the eye. I would long to revisit such beautiful places given half a chance. To cap all this off our university won both the Mens Championship as well as the Overall Championship due to the swimming exploits of Rahul Batra and Krishna NA (both represent BMS and train at BAC).
We were thus recieved to a heroes welcome on our return back (although we never felt like leaving there). Besides the Shimla experience (where we dared to take off our shirts in 4 degree celcius on the top of a hill where a stiff breeze was blowing besides a slight drizzle ... a truly chilling experience) hanging out at Sector 17, eating rasgullas by the dozen (thanx to Shivakiran) were other memorable moments. We also visited the famous Rock Garden which was unique owing to the fact that its natural beauty is untouched and the entire garden was constructed using only useless (thrown away) material. Overall the experience was something unforgettable.
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4. Chennai (Feb 2001, Jun 2002)
Sadly chennai has never been one of my favorite destinations in contrast for some of my other team mates who seem to love the place. The number of times i have been to Chennai Central Railway Station i know it like the back of my hand. I desist the weather and the city is no better. I have participated in national meets in chennai twice.
The first time was at the 14th South Zone Aquatic Championships (Feb 2001) where i was again the captain of the starte team (my first time as captain) and we finished runners-up to Kerala having beaten AndraPradesh in the semi-finals fairly comfortably. This experience was very different since it was very short lived (most South Zone Meets last no more than 3-4 days) and i was with a fairly unknown team.
The stadia and facilities were top-class since they were constructed by the then Chief Minister J Jayalalitha for SAF Games earlier. The other experience was the Age Group National Championships held here (June 2002).
Prior to this nationals there was a lot of expectations from different corners that our team would perform well following our impressive showing in Margao the previous . In light of this i went into the meet with full expectations of a medal after having trained extremely hard over the previous three months (the hardest i have ever trained).
But to our misfortune we were pitted against a strong-willed Bengal team in the first round who being defending champions went onto successfully defend their championships decimating opponents on the way (of which we were one). The meet was extremely disappointing personally since i had put in a lot of hard work and nothing came out of it. We did take in some of the sights of Madras namely Landmark BookStore in Spencers Plaza and watched the movie "Panic Room" (which i really enjoyed). Overall a dissappointing trip.
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5. Hyderabad (Dec 2002)
Ask any sportsperson what is the biggest sporting event in the country and National Games is the answer you will get. Hence it was my long standing wish to take part in the 32nd National Games Meet which came true in Dec 2002 in Hyderabad after having missed out on the previous editon in Imphal, Manipur . The entire experience was truly enriching. Staying in the huge national games village at Gachibowli (similar to the one constructed in Bangalore during the National games in 1996), interacting with sportspersons from other disciplines and meeting athletes like Anju Bobby George, Jaspal rana, Dhanraj Pillay etc, buffet meals at a huge dining hall meant to accomodate more than 2000 atheletes at a time, cultural events held every eveningin the village, cheering on our Karnataka compatriots in other sporting disciplines, 'Bada Khana - A Special Buffet dinner' were some of the innumerable highlights of the event. It is widely acknowledged that the best national games so far was at Hyderabad and would not disagree.
Hats off to Chandrababu Naidu (the then Chief Minister) for hosting it superbly. The infrastructure constructed for the meet was truly world-class and this was one of the chief reasons for Hyderabad bagging the right to host the first ever Afro-Asian Games in 2003. Despite having a month long gruelling training camp at MEG under the guidance of Mr Shanmugham (and associated team selection controversies) we went into the meet with fairly modest expectations understanding the competition we were going to be up against.
We lost our opening match to hosts AndraPradesh who has the Indian Police Team playing for them on account of being the hosts.The crowd support they got (thousands of school kids screaming their lungs out everytime AP got possesion of the ball) was enormous and intimidated me (Can't imagine how it would be to perform at Eden Gardens or the colliseum).
The next match we lost to eventual champions Kerala who were fielding a full strength team. Our final match (before we bowed out), we lost to Maharashtra owing to some terrible refreeing (a match we should have won). So our campaign came to an end fairly early losing all matches in the group stage but we weren't complaining since that gave us more free time to take in the sights.
The opening and closing cermonies were truly magical and spell-binding. The opening cermony was attended by the President Mr Abdul Kalam and the chief guest was Mr Amitabh Bachann (whom i go to see up close). We also got to see Rani Mukherjee, Mahima Chowdhary etc. The laser show, firworks, music by S B, drums by Sivamani, performance by Shankar Mahadevan, Illa Arun and Remo Fernandes were mind blowing.
The closing ceremony was attended by the Prime Minister Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee. The chief guest was Aishwarya Rai. I didn't get to attend the closing cermony since i had to return to b'lore just in time for my practical exams.
The return journey was an eventful one, with me preferring to take the bus since my tickets were not reserved whilst the train i was supposed to come back in got derailed (the infamous Kacheguda Rail Accident). Another experience of the a time was visiting the famous Ramoji Film city which is a huge, beautiful and wonderful (but expensive) set of film sets and studios where several movies are/were shot.
Overall the National games experience was awseome and unforgettable. Adjectives fail me when i attempt to describe the experience.
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6. Jodhpur(Jun 99)
The 26th Junior National Aquatic Championships was held at Jodhpur (Rajasthan) from 21st to 25th June 99. Our journey to jodhpur was eventful in that we had no confirmed tickets on the train we were travelling on.So that meant that the entire boys and girls team including coach (about 28 of us) were travelling without berths the entire distance and had to sleep on the floor in the night.
On top of it the train was delayed and we reached a day late. But that experience was all made up there becoz we had a wonderful time there. Luck would have it that we managed to find a wonderful guest house (called Sunrise guest house) which was actually an entire house which is often rented out to foreigners but owing to off-season was let out to us at a price that was a real steal.
So we had an entire house to ourselves and we had a whale of a time there with AC rooms to beat the stiffling weather. On the competition front,an inspired performance by our captain Srinivas Murthy gave us a nail biting victory over arch-rivals Punjab whilst we bowed out of the tourament after losing to eventual runners-up Kerala in the next match.
The best part about the trip was the place we were put up in which was to the envy of everyone else. Overall a satisfying trip.
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7. Ludhiana (Sep 98)
The 25th Junior National Aquatic Championships were held at Ludhiana (Punjab) from 20th to 23rd Sept 1998. This was my first waterpolo nationals held by the Swimming Federation of India. My ignorance of the abilities of other teams and over-confidence in my own team had led to me foolishly expecting to win a medal there. Rather we were soundly beaten in both league matches by Manipur and WestBengal after a below par performance by what i believed was the best possible team we could have put up at that time.
Highlight of that trip was an engrossing and entertaining match between hosts Punjab and eventual winners Maharashtra. Besides since this was my first waterpolo nationals seeing the play there inspired me and motivated me to take up the game more seriously. The end of the trip was marred by some infighting amongst few members of the team. The videogame parlor and pool tables we used to haunt all day there is something i will never forget. Overall the trip was a good one.
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8. Nasik (Nov 98)
The Forty-Fourth National School Games Aquatic Championships was held in Nashik from the 26th to 30th Nov 1998. To be honest i hadn't even heard of the place nasik and where it was before the meet. I wondered as to what would await us there. To our surprise the city is real nice and we ended up having a very good time. From the competition point of view, we won two out of the three matches (against Gujurat and KVS) in our group thus finishing second in the group behind leaders Maharashtra who went on to finsh runners up in the tournament.
Personally a very satisfying tournament since i scored quite a few goals. Memories of the meet are the famous Ice-cream parlor (which we used to visit even at midnight), Tandoor chicken and dinner at midnight because the waterpolo matches used to start at 9 in the night and end at 11 - 11:30 at night so getting back for dinner would take so long. Overall a fun-filled trip.
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9. New Delhi (Aug 93)
My first meet held outside Karnataka. The III YMCA All-India Open Meet held in New Delhi from 18th to 21st Aug 93 was my first national level meet. It was a superb experience given that it was the first time we were travelling so far from home, living semi-independently etc.
From a swimming point of view i was part of the team that won a gold in the 4x50 mts Medley Relay (we missed the national record by a fraction of a second) and also a silver in the 4x50 mts Freestyle Relay. So a satisfying experience indeed.
The famous Talkatora stadium where the competition was held is truly amazing. Apart from the competition we also went on a day long sightseeing tour of Agra and saw the TajMahal etc. Memories of the nationals are indeed few and vague (given that i was so young then) but i still remember some of the good times we had in the YMCA Hostel dormitory where we were put up besides the ice-cream at Nirulas at Connaught Place. Recollecting about the trip makes me nostalgic.
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10. Margao (Jul 2001)
The 28th Junior National Aquatic Championships were held in Madgaon (Goa) from 6th to 10th July 2001. This trip was probably the most eventful one we have ever had (for probably the wrong reasons as well). From the waterpolo aspect this event was path breaking because we caused a real upset by beating the strong Services team, a match everyone expected us to lose. This emotional high was followed by a narrow defeat (1-2) to Punjab, a match that will continue to haunt me for the rest of my life because the refree overruled a last quarter goal i had scored. And there a golden oppurtunity to take part in our first ever semi-finals went down the drain. But still our team had left its mark on the tournament and other teams began to take notice of our team which was otherwise considered also-rans. Besides this, two of my teammates (Jaisimh S and Shivakiran A R) were selected for the National team camp so this meet was full of major achievements by us. If we thought that events in the pool were stressful enough then what was to follow was the most event filled couple of days in our lives. For obvious reasons i cannot reveal too-much about what happened (you can be rest assured that nothing illegal or unconstitutional happened). If you so much would like to know pleaz get in touch with me and i'll probably spill the beans.
We managed to take in the sights around Panaji visiting the famous churches and also taking the famous boat cruise at night. Both of which were extremely good. Overall the trip was a very eventful one (as i mentioned before). the hectic scramble to make the train for our return journey and sequence of events preceding it still rings loud and clear in my head.
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11. Panaji (Oct 97)
I don't know what it is about Goa and our waterpolo team but trips to goa have always been event-packed and full of fun. The 43rd National School Games Aquatic Championships were held in Panaji (Goa) from 25th to 29th October 1997. This was my first waterpolo nationals and the trip was full of masti. The city of Panaji was brimming with life and we had a wonderful time coz we stayed in a very nice hotel (6 Bed room for the 6 of us) and had plenty of fun. From the waterpolo front my first national level waterpolo match ended on a high with a come from behind victory over Madhya Pradesh.
This however was followed by defeat to a strong Maharastra team. But this didn't effect us coz we were now free from the burden of competition, to party and paint the town red and that was exactly what we did. We hired bikes and went around nearly the whole of goa on them visiting beaches and discos alike. It was a really wonderful unique experience.
Now i began to see why people make such a big deal of goa but believe me it is trully worth the experience. I wish there were more number of national meets held in Goa. It would probably be my second favorite destination after Bombay (whose night life i have heard so much about but have yet to experience). Overall this trip to Panaji (Goa) left me with a real hangover with a longing to return.
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12. Patiala (Nov 99)
The 45th National School Games Aquatic Championships was held in Patiala (Punjab) from 16th to 21st Nov 99. The competition was held at the Headquarters of the Sports Authority of India which is located in Patials and hence the swimming pool and other infrastructure were very good. I participated in this meet as a swimmer despite being a full fledged waterpolo player by then. I took part in the 200mts Freestyle event failing to reach the finals in the icy-cold waters. It is my firm belief that if our Pre-University Board had sent the waterpolo team there we would have won a medal definitely. But we do not have the luxury of hindsight, can we !!! Memories from this meet include wrapping ourselves in thick rugs to beat the cold, pillow fights in the hotel room, sweets (by the dozen) following every meal, standard breakfasts of bread-jam or bread-butter followed by a large glass of steaming hot milk. the train journey both to and from were very good and fun filled since we travelled First Class.
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13. Pune (Oct 95)
Probably the next best city to Chandigarh is the city of Pune which despite constantly being in the shadow of Bombay is still a wonderful city. The 41st National School Games Aquatic Championships was held here from 15th to 20th Oct 95. The Shri Shiv Chhatrapati Krida Nagari Stadium where the meet was held was a sight to behold. The velodrome opposite to the swimming pool was very good.
Since all the stadia were constructed during the time that Pune hosted the National Games they were very good. When i took part in the meet i was still a full fledged swimmer and participated in 200 mts Butterfly although i failed to make any sort of impression. Since my event got over fairly early on in the competition, we (me and my mom) went to Bombay for a couple of days and stayed at a friends house in Juhu.
The Bombay experience was good except that i was very young to know what fun really was. All the same i got to see Bombay and Pune. Memories from Pune besides the wonderfull swimming pool include Huge Tandoori Chicken we used to eat, fooling around with an air-gun one of my teammates bought etc. Overall the trip was a good experience.
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14. Trissur (Sep 2002)
One of the greatest mysteries to me and an irony really is the fact that the state of Kerala despite having sub-standard facilties and lack of infrastructure, constantly churn out world-class athletes. The 56th Senior National Aquatic Championships was held in Trichur (Trissur) from 10th to 15th Sept 2002. To say that facilities here at the swimming pool are pathetic would be an understatement but as i mentioned earlier this doesn't in any way deter atheletes from Kerala performing well. This nationals was the first time i was the captain of the senior national squad. We won our first match against gujurat comfortably and put up a very good fight against a strong Indian Police Team. At the end of the meet we were able to go back with our heads held high. A visit to Guruvayur Temple (with all of us dressed in traditional wear) and antakshari on the way back were some of the memorable moments of the trip. There were also innumerable incidents on the side track which all contributed to making this trip a truly memorable one.
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15. Trivandrum (Jan 99, Feb 2003)
Trivandrum is the one other place (other than calcutta) where i had done more than one nationals. The first oppurtunity i got was to take part in 12th South Zone Aquatic Championships held here from 9-10th Jan 99. Other than the weather i liked most other things about Trivandrum.
We managed to visit both famous places in trivandrum namely (the beautiful) Kovalam Beach (where the number of foriegners stunned me) and alos the famous AnanthaPadmanabha Temple. During this meet as expected we reaced the finals of the meet where we came up against the hosts Kerals. After a sluggish start we pulled up our socks and coupled with an inspired performance from our goalkeeper (Praveen K B) enthralled the large audience there to a wonderful contest which eventually was won by Kerala who were better than us on the day.
Overall this trip too was a very memorable one. the second oppurtuity i got to revisit trivandrum was during the16th South Zone Aquatic Championships held here from 7th - 9th Feb 2003. the waterworks swimming pool where the meet is held was becoming well known to me.
This time too we managed to visit the AnathaPadmanabha temple and Kovalam beach (this time it was more incident filled than last time) twice. From the waterpolo front, i was once again captain of the team and as is the case in every South Zone meet Kerala and Karnataka meet in the finals of the competition after winning comfortably in the semi-finals.
This time too we put up a godd fight and with a little more luck (or a better goal keeper) we could have upset the hosts and won the championships. Memories from the trip include playing football on the beach, eating out and staying out late at nights, wathcing the start of the cricket world cup in south Africa etc.
Since i went for the competition in the four days gap that i had between consequtive exams of my 5 semester, i was not able to be as relaxed during the meet as i normally would like to be still a good trip all the same.
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16. Vishakapatnam (Jan 2002)
As was the case for all south zone meets, which are held bang in the middle of exams of odd semester this time was no different and happend a couple of days prior to my 3 semester exams. The 15th South Zone Aquatic Championships were held here from 29th -31st Jan 2002. On first hearing that the nationals was to be held in vishakapatnam i imagined that since it was in south india it shoudl not be longer than an overnight journey.
But to my surprise the trip was more than 24 hours long which made travel in an already packed schedule a huge burden. Vishakapatnam (also known as the steel city) lives up to its name and is a typical industrial city but a beautiful one at that.
The swimming pool which overlookes the beach is a sight to behold, truly magnificent really. Owing to the fact that i had my exams coming up i could not sight see around the place as i would have loved to and ended up spending most of my time in the hotel room (which i must admit was really classy and came at a steal).
But i did manage to make time to hang out with my teamates during certain times. I particularly remember hanging out at this fast food joint cum ice-cream parlor (called 'Foodex'). From the waterpolo front, it was the same story as usual in all south zone meets with Kerals and Karnataka teams clashing in the finals with us ending up runners-up.
Being captain i was pretty satisfied with both my personal performance as well as the performance of the team since we were an inexperienced team up against a strong Kerala team filled with international players. The train journeys to and fro were fun filled. Overall the trip was very good and left me with a major hangover and at the worst possible time given that i had my exams coming up.
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Besides these meets i have also taken part in innumerable state level meets around the state. Among these include Mysore and Hubli. Besides this one other location i have visited on more than one occasion is the Industrial City of Neyveli located in TamilNadu. I participated in 12th Nagarajan Memorial All India Invitational Aquatic Championships held from 30th Apr - 1st May 94 and the 13th Nagarajan Memorial All India Invitaional Aquatic Championships from 13th -14th Apr 1996. Both trips were full of fun. I have very vague memories of both trips. I remember the pepsi wars (spraying pepsi on another person ala formula one drivers on the victory podium) we had during the first trip and remember spraining my elbow on the second trip (but playing cricket inspite of that). The city is nothing to howl about but we had a good time there.
Me trying to describe my experiences over my fairly long carrer within a single page is probably very hard to do. I have tried my level best to restrict what i have to say trying to cover the major incidents and memorable experiences each trip has had for me. But as you can see it is no simple task. I hope i haven't bored you with the tales i have had to tell.
Posted by Nikhil on Saturday, 18th December 2004 in Life in General | Sport | Humour | Fun | Events | Nonsense