{"id":327156,"date":"2018-08-28T06:00:13","date_gmt":"2018-08-28T13:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=327156"},"modified":"2018-08-28T05:15:43","modified_gmt":"2018-08-28T12:15:43","slug":"entry-time-error-for-india-at-asian-games-called-a-national-travesty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/entry-time-error-for-india-at-asian-games-called-a-national-travesty\/","title":{"rendered":"Entry Time Error For India At Asian Games Called ‘A National Travesty’"},"content":{"rendered":"

While India left the 2018 Asian Games with eight national records and ten final appearances, there was a bigger story for the country at the Games. Entry times for Indian swimmers were either not sent or not received, meaning their athletes were placed in the slowest heats of their events.<\/p>\n

In an article that originally appeared on the\u00a0ESPN\u00a0<\/em>website<\/a>, national coach Nihar Ameen<\/strong> did not mince words, calling the entry time error a “national travesty” and arguing it had a significant impact on the swimmer’s performances:<\/p>\n

“It’s a national travesty. That’s what it is. Our swimmers were forced to swim alongside the slowest and they had no one to pace against. It severely affected our chances.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While Ameen insisted that the Swimming Federation of India (SFI) had sent the entry times in advance of the deadline, but\u00a0ESPN\u00a0<\/em>was unable to obtain comments from either the SFI or the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), the two groups responsible for sending the information.<\/p>\n

The Indian coaches and swimmers themselves only realized the error the day before the competition, when they received the psych sheets and saw they were in the slowest heats across the board.<\/p>\n

While India did leave the Asian Games with eight new national records, the country produced no medals over the course of the competition. You can read the original report from ESPN here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

ESPN contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n