To see beyond the sea

Tourists from around the world visit the Maldives' islands to plunge into the ocean, but swimmer Mubal Azzam Ibrahim said his homeland is unexpectedly far from ideal for training for competitions.

Nearly every resident of the archipelago nation can swim. But the waves and currents of the open waters that surround the country's 1,000-plus islands are difficult places to execute many technical moves. Yet, perhaps ironically because of this abundance of natural water, the nation hosts just one 25-meter pool for athletic training, meaning the country, incredibly, could only send eight swimmers to the Hangzhou Asian Games.

The good news, however, is that there are now plans to build a 50-meter competition-standard pool, said Ibrahim, who was born in 2000 and started swimming in the ocean with his dad around the age of 5.

Years later, he got opportunities to compete internationally but discovered he lacked compatriots with whom to compete or train.

"Everyone ... had either retired or just stopped swimming," he recalled.

This changed when, at age 17, a scholarship from the Maldives Olympic Committee enabled him to study mechatronics engineering at Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne, Australia.

"That was when everything started looking up for me," he recalled.

"I was really fortunate to get the opportunity. If I didn't take it, I wouldn't be where I am right now."

In Australia, he swam in a local club, where he met his coach, with whom he has worked for four years.

"He is someone I really have good synergy and connection with, and he is going to be someone I can really lean on and can support me," Ibrahim said.

Hangzhou is the Maldivian swimmer's third Asiad. While he didn't make the podium, his performance has continued to improve.

In 2014 in Incheon, he competed in the men's 400m freestyle, clocking 5:29.40. Four years later, in Jakarta, he had improved to 4:48.44.

In the preliminary round of the men's 100m breaststroke in Hangzhou, he achieved a time of 1:14.73, which marked an improvement of more than two seconds over his performance in the same event at the Indian Ocean Island Games in Madagascar a month ago.

"Regardless of the fact that we're still pretty behind on a lot of things, well, I've noticed that we're catching up quite a bit. Usually, we'd be miles behind, but now we're kind of getting closer."

Ibrahim said his performance in Hangzhou was not his peak, but he is satisfied with the experience because it showed him what he needs to do next to improve.

The athlete also expressed hopes that the 19th Asiad will encourage the Maldivian government to increase investment in and focus on swimming as a sport.

Ibrahim had to leave the night after he'd finished all nine swimming events he'd competed in because he was on unpaid leave from his job in Australia.

He is scheduled to complete his degree next year and is looking for a full-time engineering job but doesn't want to stop swimming.

"My life is very much either swimming or studying — or, right now, it's all work or swimming," he said.

"My goal has been the same for a while, which is to qualify for the Olympics, whether it's in Paris or Los Angeles."