The Swimming Federation of India and the South African Swimming Federation have signed an agreement allowing for the two countries to further develop their aquatic programs jointly.
Under the agreement, the countries will collaborate on training trips and competitions in order to help further their advancements in various aquatic sports, including swimming and water polo.
In a statement, the Swimming Federation of India wrote, “The agreement builds on the informal arrangements that have existed between the two federations for a number of years with swimmers from India training with the South Africa head coach Graham Hill.”
The Federation’s president R. N. Jayaprakash released his own comments, adding, “We are sure this partnership will help us engage with our South African counterparts to further strengthen swimming and water polo in India.”
In the first step of the program, 20 swimmers from India will be traveling to South Africa for a training trip in March, pending the status of the coronavirus pandemic. While there, they will be training at the High Performance centre in either Pretoria or Stellenbosch, and they will also take part in the FINA Olympic qualifying meets in Durban. The trip is expected to last through the final qualifying competition, which is scheduled to occur the week of May 29.
The group of swimmers attending the trip includes 10 senior level swimmers and 10 junior level standouts. Two of India’s Olympic swimming hopefuls, Srihari Nataraj and Kushagra Rawat, will be attending the trip.
Currently, India has 6 swimmers who have achieved tentative Olympic qualifying FINA B-cuts for the 2021 edition of the Games, including Virdhawal Khade, Sajan Prakash, Nataraj, Rawat, Aryan Makhija, and Advait Page.
If you are a swimming federation looking to team up, you don’t choose South Africa…
India and RSA are long-standing cooporative partners on all sorts of matters.