Pakistan’s swimming woes: Israr rues lack of international exposure

Undefeated national champion believes federation needs to unearth talent

KARACHI: Pakistan’s undefeated swimming champion Israr Hussain blames lack of training camps and international exposure for his failure to excel at the global stage.

The thirty-year-old has remained unbeaten for the past 10 years at the national level and was the winner of seven gold medals at this year’s National Games held in Islamabad. However, despite his achievements at home, he has been unable to reciprocate the same success elsewhere.

“I mostly take part in the 200m, 400m and 1,500m freestyle events and had competed in the 100m freestyle at the London 2012 Summer Olympics. There I was still able to improve my best time but failed to win any medal or obtain any significant position,” Israr told The Express Tribune.



“Similarly at the 2011 World Championship, which was also the Olympic qualifying round, I improved my personal best time but only managed to get to the 2012 Olympics through a wildcard entry. The 2010 FINA World Championship in Dubai was the same story.”

According to Israr, efforts to invest in Pakistan’s swimming talent need to pick up pace. The fact that he has remained undefeated for the past 10 years clearly proves this.

“Pakistan has a lot of talent in swimming, which can only be unearthed if the federation provides facilities and round-the-year training,” he said. “Holding one championship a year is not enough to attract the youth. We have to announce lucrative incentives and provide jobs.”



He added that the federation and departments should hire international coaches from the US and Australia to get better results.

Next up for the national champion is the SAF Games in India where he will be competing in the 200m, 400m and 1,500m freestyle categories and despite India and Sri Lanka being hot favourites to win medals, he remains hopeful of his own chances.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 17^th, 2015.

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