Wednesday 09 / July / 2025
Muscat: A talented young swimmer at Nautilus Swimming Club has secured a scholarship to study at Kenyon College in the United States, where he has been admitted under the institute’s sports criteria.
Mirjavohir Marvarov secured admission at Kenyon thanks to a placement programme run by Nautilus to help talented swimmers earn scholarships to pursue their higher education overseas, providing them an excellent platform to thrive in their chosen careers. The academic initiative run by Nautilus makes them the first swim academy in Oman to provide its young athletes a pathway to tertiary education.
They are also the only academy in Oman headed by a former Olympic-level coach, Ivan Proskura, who was over the moon with Mirjavohir earning a place at Kenyon, which has swimming and diving programmes, considered among the most successful in the US: The college counts 34 national titles to its name, 31 of them won consecutively.
“What we are doing is providing our swimmers a path that enables them to use their skills both in academics and in sport,” said Proskura. “We have shared our database of young athletes with academic recruiters who find places for them in universities that are looking to provide sports scholarships to talented students.
“Kenyon are already assembling their team for the next term and Mirjavohir being a part of their setup, I am sure it is going to be a win-win for all involved,” he added. “We were delighted that he was able to secure his admission through a scholarship as early as October last year, well before admissions on the basis of academics began this January.” Kenyon College has been described in various academic-focused publications as number one among the 25 “New Ivy” institutions, making it a great place for Mirjavohir and other students to learn.
The sports scholarship Mirjavohir has won will cover the cost of his tuition during his entire time at Kenyon and there are others waiting in the wings at Nautilus who have already been contacted by sports recruiters with a view to getting them placed in higher education institutions overseas.
“There are a couple of students who are in the final years of high school who have indeed been approached,” said Proskura.
“Should they receive scholarships, I would definitely encourage them to go for it, because you are being given a fantastic opportunity to learn and take both your athletics and your career forward.
“Of course, the final decision rests with the student and their parents, but it is our fervent hope that our young swimmers get into colleges that are ranked among the top 20 in the US and the other countries that offer them admission,” he added. “Our aim is to one day get our students into Ivy League universities.”
“It is a challenging task for students to get into their dream college – hopefully, we can make that dream come true for some of them,” he said. “The US college sports system is a fantastic opportunity for athletes to obtain top-notch education and the same is true in other disciplines as well. Many institutes are on the lookout for dancers, musicians and other talented youth.”
In 2019, Proskura took Mirjavohir to the FINA World Cup to compete in five events against the world record holders, a great experience and motivation for him. Nautilus is looking forward to developing more international level swimmers in Oman. Although it has been challenging to maintain athletes’ levels during COVID pandemic, Nautilus has received great support from its partner, KGIS, in ensuring their safety during training sessions.
One of the success factors of Nautilus swim school is that it offers a full range of programmes, starting from learning to swim, all the way to entering competitive programmes with swimmers entering national and international swimming championships.
Nautilus has become the first and so far only swim school in Oman whose swimmer became the first person living in Oman to qualify for the All India National Swimming Finals. Sergey Nazaryan has become one of the top swimmers for Armenia at the 2019 RA Swimming championships. An upcoming star at Nautilus, Hussain Taha, has been representing Oman at the recent GCC championships, bringing home two bronze medals.
Janani, the youngest among all of Nautilus competing swimmers, after winning gold medals in the 50m and 100m fly events and silver in the 50m heats at the state level swimming competition in India, entered the Indian National Swimming Championship before reaching the finals of all the three events.
