Thimphu Aquatic Centre generated more than Nu 1.5 M in revenue since its opening in June this year. The centre attracted more than 4,700 swimming enthusiasts. According to the centre, it hopes to train more swimmers to represent the country at international tournaments. Thimphu Aquatic Centre is located at Babena.
The centre is the country’s first international standard swimming pool.
It provides basic swimming training and can accommodate between 150 to 200 swimmers at once.
The centre charges Nu 200 for students and Nu 500 for adults for one and a half hours of swimming sessions. Likewise, there are different fees for monthly memberships.
Parents and swimming enthusiasts said they prefer Thimphu Aquatic Centre as it is much cheaper compared to the private swimming pools.
Sangay Loday, a swimming enthusiast said “I came here to swim for the first time. The pool is nice. The facilities are also enough. However, if they could arrange more safety equipment for children, it would be not that risky.”
Jurme Choedra Tobgay, another swimming enthusiast said “I want to be a national swimmer. I want to win the gold medal in the future. To achieve that I need to practice swimming. It was a little difficult for me when I started but now I am getting the hang of it.”
Ugyen Dhendup, a parent said “the trainers here are teaching children how to swim. The Bhutan Olympic Committee does not have much equipment. We would be thankful if they had enough equipment. The safety equipment can be used during emergency purposes.”
They added that there is a need for enhanced safety and facilities to make it safer for beginners.
From the Nu 1.5 M, the Bhutan Aquatic Federation have spent Nu 500,000 on buying safety equipment such as pull buoys, finger paddles, hand paddles, kick board, leg fins, lifeguard tubes, and swimmers snorkels.
In addition, the centre paid more than Nu 700,000 as electricity bills to heat the water till July.
Naman Jakhmola, a coach at Thimphu Aquatic Centre said “right now we have five trainers with us and we have safety equipment such as tubes and lifeguards. So, if anything happens like this, we can throw that tube as it is a floatable one. It can carry around 80 to 100 kilogrammes of weight. So, there won’t be any problem. If it is at a long distance, we dive as we are all professionals. Therefore, there won’t be any problem.”
The centre plans to improve facilities and safety measures.
Karma Wangdi
Edited by Tshering Zam
