Women swimmers lead Pak out of sporting purdah
AFP THURSDAY, AUGUST 01, 2002 1:35:10 AM ]
MANCHESTER: Two swimmers are among the women from Pakistan who are making history representing their country at the Commonwealth Games, thanks in part to the high-tech bodysuits that burst onto the scene at the Sydney Olympics.
“The important thing is Pakistan has come out of sporting purdah, and done so within the Islamic culture,” said Veena Masud, the manager of the first women’s swimming team from Pakistan to compete outside a Muslim country.
Sana Abdul Wahid, 18, and Kiran Khan, 12, will swim for Pakistan, where the sport is relatively new for men as well as women.
“Swimming was not a considered a sport in Pakistan until very recently,” Masud said. "In elite society many people are members of social clubs and would swim there. I became involved in the sport when my son took up swimming competitively.
“It was not long before they were saying, ‘If the boys swim, why can’t the girls?’” Masud credited a “tenacious group of women” with getting the sport organised for women.
“We had to observe the strictest of Islamic codes, and that meant that when we started having competitions – our first national championships were staged only six years ago – we had to have women-only technical officials, and no men were allowed as spectators.”
Pakistan sent swimmers to the second and third Islamic Women’s Games in Iran, where the rules were sure to be observed.
But the Olympics and other world competitions seemed out of reach. Then the streamlined bodysuits came into vogue. Controversial at first, the suits were widely adopted by medallists at the Sydney Games.
For Islamic women swimmers they are ideal, covering the body from the neck to the ankles and wrists.
“Kiran and Sana will be wearing Aquablades here, they are training in the pool with everyone else here. We are very excited,” Masud said.
There is a lot of work still to do, however. Pakistan has just two 50m pools and neither is available for training.
“The girls train in small recreation pools,” said Masud, who is secretary of the women’s section of her national swimming federation and executive member of the Pakistan National Olympic Committee.
There is also a dearth of qualified coaches for women. “Sana taught herself to swim,” Masud said. “She has won the national championship each year since 1998, in freestyle, butterfly and 400m individual medley, and we think she might swim something like 28.6sec for the 50m freestyle here.”
That will likely be about four seconds slower than the winner, but not likely the bottom of the 40-woman field.
Kiran, the national champion in 100m and 200m backstroke and 200m individual medley, is slated to swim the backstroke events here.
While no medals are in view, Masud believes the experience will be invaluable. “We all hope that if they perform well here and set personal bests in Manchester, then they will be encouraged to continue training so that they can qualify for the Olympic Games in 2004.”
Sana has one other goal in Manchester. “She says she wants to meet Ian Thorpe while she is at the Games,” Masud said.