LUCKNOW, Aug. 27 -- The Underwater Sports Federation of India (USFI) is yet to get the official recognition by the Indian Olympic Association and the sports ministry, but it's working hard by organising a number of district, state and national championships across India, especially since the start of finswimming in 2019. The USFI not only aims to get recognition from all concerned and hold the world championship in India in future. But before that, it plans to hold a series of events in a big way so that they could impress the international body of sport, which may allocate them the hosting rights of the world championship before the proposed 2036 Olympics in India. "The game itself is new to India, but in the last five years we have seen a lot of growth. With the rising popularity of finswimming, the USFI is hopeful to see the event as an official discipline at the 2032 Olympics," USFI's secretary general Tapan Kumar Panigrahi said on the final day of the three-day UP State Finswimming Championship here in Lucknow. He, however, termed finswimming as the Formula One in swimming. "Yes. Finswimming is very important because this is a Formula One event in swimming. Regular swimmers will benefit from this. Currently, the event is very popular in India as one can see swimmers doing it on a regular basis," he said . Panigrahi also highlighted the scientific importance of finswimming. "It helps one to make one's lower body strong. This kicking efficiency will add up the strength," he added. He also expressed surprise over the participation of 1200 plus swimmers in the Uttar Pradesh State Finswimming Championship. "I haven't seen such a big gathering in finswimming anywhere in India. It's great news for the sport and it has propelled me to host the national championship here in Lucknow, if all goes well," Panigrahi said. "Soon I will discuss this plan with UP Under Water Sports Association's secretary Narendra Singh Chauhan as USFI will need to ensure many changes at the venues for the hosting of the national championship," he added. He also said that there were 450-500 participants in the Tamil Nadu state championship, whereas 350-400 participants turned in Maharashtra's state championship, while the number of participants at Manipur was 350. "Participants in large numbers in Uttar Pradesh's state meet shows the huge interest of swimmers in this new style," he added....