Bellary, Karnataka: Inspire Institute of Sport, on Tuesday, announced that it had added swimmers Maana Patel, Kushagra Rawat, Ishaan Mehra, Astha Choudhury, Ashmitha Chandra and Bikram Changmai amongst others to its swimming programme, headquartered at its state-of-the-art facilities in Vidyanagar, in Karnataka. The swimmers, who hold several National Records between them, will be part of IIS’ first batch of swimmers in Bellary.
“We have always wanted to impact Indian swimming, and all the progress we have made with the IIS Swimming Programme is part of the masterplan. We’ve integrated some very talented swimmers to the Programme, and our effort is to see how best we can provide for their holistic development. The big objective for the future is to have as many swimmers as possible qualify for the Olympic Games by having met the Olympic Qualification Time (OQT) – something we’ve had very limited success with in the past. As with everything we do, we are in this for the long haul with the view to being a programme that delivers performances at the highest levels” said Rushdee Warley, CEO of the Inspire Institute of Sport.
The IIS Swimming Programme, which was launched in 2023, features two state-of-the-art pools, allowing swimmers access to its High Performance Center, Hostels and Education Programme. Led by Head Coach Arilson Champam, the programme aims to give promising young swimmers the right guidance on their way to becoming professionals competing for India on the global stage.
“I’m very excited to be a part of the swimming training program here at IIS, especially because of the amazing integration of the best professionals and the top training facilities. I’m looking forward to seeing how my journey continues here,” said Patel, who was a participant at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games and holds the National Record in the 50m and 100m backstroke events. A participant at the Asian Games in the 50m and 100m backstroke events, Maana also participated in the 4x100m freestyle relay and 4x100m medley relay events.
Among the swimmers is also 23-year-old Kushagra Rawat, who was part of Team India’s contingent at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. Rawat also took part in the Asian Games in Hangzhou, and featured in the 400m and 800m freestyle events at the World Aquatic Championships in 2019, 2021 and 2023.
“I joined IIS with a fresh mind and mentality. My father’s guidance has been pivotal, and my intention is to train like I’ve never won and race like I’ve never lost. I’m really looking forward to my time here with the coaches and management of the Inspire Institute of Sport,” said Rawat.
Changmai, who was a silver medal winner at the 37th National Games in the 200m butterfly event, is also part of the recruits. Choudhary, meanwhile, has the Best Indian Performance in the senior and junior category in the 100m butterfly event.
Ishaan, the youngest of the lot at just 14 years of age, is the current Queensland State Champion and an Australian Age National medalist. Mehra recently moved to the St Peters Swimming Programme under the guidance of world-renowned coach, Dean Boxall, coach to multiple Olympic champions and world record holders including Ariarne Titmus and Mollie O’Callaghan. Ishaan cleaned up with five individual Gold medals at the 2023 Indian Junior National Championships.
Speaking on the roster, Warley said, “Maana is an established swimmer and has the National Records for the 50m and 100m Backstroke under her belt. Ishaan is an up and coming talent who is training in Australia. Astha Choudhary possesses the Best Indian Performance in the 100m Butterfly, while Kushagra had a record-breaking outing at the National Games. Like I said, we’ve integrated some very talented swimmers into the Programme and want to further develop them. We’re also keen on seeing how we can facilitate more international exposure for our swimmers.”
