About
College Square Swimming Club (CSSC), a pioneer in the field of aquatics, was established way back on 17th March 1917 by a group of seventeen enthusiastic people headed by Pramotho Nath Ghosh, the Founder Secretary. It is situated at the north-eastern corner of the present College Square tank, more popularly known as ‘Goldighi’, just opposite to the University of Calcutta. The first office of the Club was at 89, Bechu Chatterjee Street, Kolkata which was later shifted to the present venue. The present Club House was constructed in 1927 under the supervision and design of General P.A. Hathway, the then Chief City Architect of Calcutta Corporation.
Satish Ranjan Das, MLC and the then Advocate General, was the first President of the Club. Down the line, many famous personalities of Bengal honoured the chair of President of the Club like G.D. Birla, B.M. Birla, Anandi Lal Poddar, Kumar Bimal Chandra Sinha, Maharaja of Kandi & Paikpara, Justice Shyamal Kumar Sen and many more.
College Square Swimming Club has taken only eleven years to send its first Olympian to Amsterdam in 1928 – Dwarka Das Mulji, who is infact India’s first swimmer selected for the Olympics. The talents of College Square Swimming Club have been able to find their berths in the Olympics in 1948 at London & 1952 at Helsinki like Durga Das, Kedar Shaw, Shambhu Saha & Bijay Barman. Another prominent member Ganesh Das captained the winning Indian water polo team in 1951 Asian Games. The Club had also sent its contender in the 1982 Asian Games apart from many other International figures throughout the century.
The Club always strives for the development and promotion of swimming as a discipline of sports in the society. In 1972-73 the old wooden Diving Board was replaced by new concrete High Board and Platform with the contribution from Bhuwalka Jankalyan Trust and the Birla House. With the funding from M.N. Dastur & Co the Mini Swimming Pool for the kids was started in 1982, when the 50 meters standard swimming course and the novice enclosure were already there in its catalogue. The Multi Gym was added later on in 2002.
Since 1917 till today, throughout the century, College Square Swimming Club has proved itself to be one of the best nurseries of aquatic talents.
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