Om Slalom rapids into India

Slalom is held over a 300-metre course where the paddler has to pass between `gates’ while coming down with the rapids. Winners are adjudged by the time taken, with penalty points given for inability to negotiate the course.

India is planning to hold an Asian Slalom Championship next year immediately after the Sydney Olympics, enabling competitors fresh from the Games to take part.

Hungary’sCsaba Szanto, the ICF development co-ordinator for Asia and Indian Kayaking and Canoeing Association (IKCA) president Avinash C Kohli said most Asian countries which found it tough to even qualify for Olympics against the powerful Europeans, could hold their own in slalom as it demanded skill.

“The courses here are natural, compared to the 40 million dollars spent to raise the course for the Sydney Olympics," Kohli said. Plans are also afoot to hold a meeting between India and Myanmar, where canoeing and kayaking is quite popular, at the Lok Tak lake in Manipur, the competition venue for the National Games.

Canoeing and kayaking debuted in the Olympics in 1936, but slalom is only four Olympics old. In Asia, barring Japan, none of the countries have taken to it, Szanto said.

IKCA which holds an annual whitewater (river rafting) competition at Rishikesh, plans to enlarge the event by inviting foreign participants from next year.