BY RIZWAN REHMAT
DOHA: Hiring ‘quality coaches’ is crucial for the all-round development of young swimmers, a top official of world body FINA said yesterday.
Cornel Marculescu (pictured), the FINA Executive Director, said ‘good coaches’ could also help Qatar produce a bunch of quality swimmers in the future.
“The only thing you need is to have a good coach (for youngsters),” Marculescu said in an interview at Hamad Aquatic Centre where Qatar Swimming Association (QSA) is hosting round five of 2013 FINA World Cup series.
“You (QSA) have top facilities and everything else to promote the sport. (What) you need (is) coaches who understand the mentality of a young swimmer,” Marculescu added.
“You need a coach who understands the mentality, culture and life of youngsters here,” he explained.
“If you bring somebody who doesn’t understand these aspects, then you can’t get good swimmers.
“And I think I see a good future here. They have good young swimmers,” Marculescu said.
“Qatar need not worry (on producing a champion overnight),” he said. “You have to be patient,” Marculescu pointed out.
“They (the Qatari swimmers) have been taking part in other World Cup events. They are learning. They have improved. I see young swimmers coming in,” Marculescu said.
Marculescu said QSA would make for a ‘great host’ when Doha hosts the FINA World Championships next year.
“Next year is going to be great. We have a lovely aquatic event feel here. Next year we will have a coaches convention during the FINA Congress and an exhibition,” Marculescu said.
“We appreciated that Qatar is one of the best partners of FINA. We have a great understanding with Qatar Olympic Committee (QOC). The world’s top swimmers enjoyed coming here last year.
“That’s why we have a bigger pool of world-beaters this year.
“Let me tell you this: The Doha event is being watched by over 100 countries. That’s a huge number. Swimming has never been more popular. We love coming here,” he added.
“We take our World Cup events where we have good organisers. That’s what we get here.
“I can already see improvements compared to last year (when Doha staged its maiden FINA event),” Marculescu said.
“You see there are more Qatari swimmers this year than last year,” Marculescu said.
Khalil Al Jabir, President of QSA, yesterday said: “We have a long-term relationship with FINA. We value this partnership. This is a key event on our sports calendar. Even our own swimmers are shwoing a great deal of interest in competing at home.”
Today is the final day of the two-day FINA World Cup series leg.
Eindhoven, Berlin, Moscow and Dubai staged the first four legs.
Singapore, Tokyo and Beijing will wind up the 2013 season.
Today’s heats start at 10am while the finals commence at 5:30pm. THE PENINSULA
