J & K’s Forgotten Olympic Sport

by: Chetan Prabhakar

      chetanprabhakar@gmail.com

Sporting excellence is never accidental. It is the outcome of sustained planning, professional coaching, functional infrastructure, and institutional accountability. Every medal earned at the national or international level reflects not just individual talent, but the strength of the system supporting that athlete. In Jammu & Kashmir, however, the trajectory of swimming has long reflected a different reality—one marked by prolonged neglect, missing fundamentals, and delayed institutional response. Despite being an Olympic discipline, swimming in J&K has remained on the margins of sports development.

Swimming is among the most technical and physically demanding sports. Performance depends on early talent identification, year-round access to standard facilities, structured training cycles, and professional coaching supervision. Across India, States such as Kerala, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Haryana have invested consistently in aquatic infrastructure and coaching ecosystems. These States operate Olympic-size 50-metre pools, appoint qualified government coaches, conduct regular state championships, and ensure consistent participation in national competitions and flagship programmes such as Khelo India.

In Jammu & Kashmir, the situation has historically been starkly different. For more than a decade, there has been no functional 50-metre government swimming pool dedicated to athletes. This absence alone has had a cascading effect on the entire swimming ecosystem. Competitive swimming at the national and international level is conducted almost exclusively in 50-metre pools. Training in shorter or improvised facilities affects stroke efficiency, endurance, pacing, turns, and race strategy. Expecting swimmers from J&K to compete on equal footing at national championships without regular exposure to standard pools is structurally unfair.

Equally damaging has been the absence of government-appointed swimming coaches in the Union Territory. As a result, swimmers have largely been left to learn “here and there,” relying on fragmented guidance, informal arrangements, or short-term training opportunities. There has been no structured coaching hierarchy, no consistent long-term training methodology, and no systematic performance monitoring. Talent has existed, but it has remained unguided.

The systemic neglect extends further. For years together, swimming in J&K has suffered from the absence of regular, state-recognised championships. Without officially recognised state competitions, swimmers are denied a legitimate platform to benchmark performance, qualify for higher events, or gain competitive maturity. State championships are the backbone of any sport’s development pipeline; their absence effectively breaks the pathway from grassroots to elite levels.

The consequences of this breakdown are visible in participation statistics. Swimmers from Jammu & Kashmir have not been consistently represented at National Swimming Championships through Sports Council and Khelo India for extended periods, not due to lack of interest or talent, but due to the absence of structured selection processes, qualifying competitions, and institutional support. Even more concerning is the continued non-participation of J&K swimmers in Khelo India swimming events for years together, despite Khelo India being the country’s premier platform for nurturing young sporting talent.The National Games of India 2025 further exposed the fragility of the system, where selection and participation of swimmers from J&K were marred by allegations of political influence rather than objective sporting merit.

Khelo India was conceived precisely to bridge gaps between States, provide exposure to young athletes, and create a national performance pipeline. When swimmers from an entire Union Territory remain absent from this ecosystem year after year, it reflects not athlete failure, but systemic exclusion. Opportunities lost at the Khelo India stage often translate into permanently lost careers.

In this difficult environment, the role of the Jammu and Kashmir Police deserves explicit acknowledgment. By providing access to their pool facilities and coaching support, the Police have played a crucial role in ensuring that swimmers from the region are at least able to train and occasionally participate at the national level. Without this institutional support, competitive swimming in J&K may not have survived at all.

However, while commendable, such support cannot substitute for a comprehensive, civilian-led sports development system. Police facilities are not designed to function as elite training centres, nor can they replace structured state programmes. As a result, while swimmers may reach national competitions sporadically, achieving medals or competing on par with swimmers from other States remains extremely difficult.

Elite performance in swimming requires lifelong, structured training beginning at a young age. This includes scientific periodisation, strength and conditioning, agility training, recovery protocols, nutrition planning, injury management, and psychological preparation. None of this can be sustained without a standard 50-metre pool, professional coaches, regular competitions, and assured exposure to national platforms. These elements have been missing in J&K for far too long.

The Jammu & Kashmir Sports Council was constituted with a clear vision and mission: to promote sports, identify talent, and facilitate athlete progression from grassroots to elite levels. Once the State, through such an institution, undertakes sports governance—by framing policies, allocating budgets, appointing coaches, maintaining infrastructure, and conducting selections—it assumes a public responsibility to create the minimum conditions necessary for athletes to compete fairly at the national level.

Encouragingly, a recent assurance by the Secretary of the J&K Sports Council has brought cautious optimism. It has been stated that 50-metre swimming pools in both the Jammu and Kashmir regions are proposed to be made functional by the end of March 2026, and that proposals will be initiated for specialised and elite coaching support along with structured training programmes. This acknowledgment of long-standing deficiencies is significant.

If implemented within the stated timeframe, these measures could mark a turning point. Functional 50-metre pools, combined with professional coaching, recognised state championships, regular national participation, and inclusion in Khelo India, would finally place swimmers from J&K on a credible developmental pathway.

What will matter now is execution. Timelines must be honoured, competitions reinstated, selection systems made transparent, and participation in national platforms ensured. Vision statements must translate into water, lanes, stopwatches, recognised championships, and measurable progress.
Swimming in Jammu & Kashmir stands at a crossroads. With sincere implementation, it can move from survival to structured growth. Without it, the sport risks remaining what it has long been—an Olympic discipline remembered in name, but forgotten in practice. About Author: Chetan Prabhakar is an Advocate at J & K High Court.