Swimmers say that results of the All India Inter-University swim meet have been rigged and that obvious cheating has been overlooked, sparking major on-deck protests.
The meet is being hosted at Lovely Professional University (LPU) in Jalandhar, India. The India Express reports that touchpads are not being used at the meet, and that swimmers are complaining that results are being changed after races to favor teams from Punjab. Swimmers also allege that officials are ignoring false starts.
In the video below, an LPU swimmer says he finished 6th in the 50 fly, but was awarded second place because he was representing the host school:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t2_LJTbPM8
And this video says it catches swimmer Sahil Chopra performing a blatant false start, but that Chopra was awarded first place in the event:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NI9V8wt1YK0
A meet official – who wishes to remain anonymous – confirmed to SwimSwam via a telephone call that results had been changed after the fact, with times adjusted, sometimes by upwards of 30 seconds. The anonymous official said that times were changed in the men’s 400 freestyle, adjusting Chopra’s time from something in the 4:40s to a 3:59 to give Chopra the win; however, the official also says after the protest, the results were changed again and Chopra was eventually removed from the results.
Swimmer Srihari Natraj told The Indian Express that three of four swimmers on LPU’s 4×100 free relay false started. Despite that, he says, and despite the fact that Jain University finished first in 3 minutes and 32 seconds, the LPU team was awarded the win in final results with a time of 3:31.
This isn’t the first time similar allegations have been raised about the meet. Back in 2017, athletes accused host Panjab University of bending rules to give an unfair advantage to its own swimmers.
Swimmers Protest
The allegations of cheating have led to a strong outcry from athletes. Likith SP, an Olympic hopeful with a FINA B cut, stood on a starting block during the meet holding a protest sign. You can see the video below. The sign read the following: “I would prefer even to fail with honour than win by cheating. Let’s all swim fair, say no to cheating.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKkq8nP8VlE
“This was a waste of time, energy and money,” said Nataraj in The New Indian Express. “What we saw was discouraging. When we complained, we got death threats.
More social media posts about the protests:
https://www.facebook.com/prithvi.mahesh/posts/2660512710662370
https://www.facebook.com/prithvi.mahesh/posts/2659855997394708
Video showing that Sahil Chopra, in lane 2, clearly false-starting, clearly finishing in 2nd place, but being awarded the win anyway.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkY055c4bxg&feature=youtu.be
SFI & Sports Minister Response
A top official with the Swimming Federation of India said that this wasn’t the first time results at this meet have been manipulated.
“This happens almost all the time every year,” said secretary general Chokshi Monal in The Indian Express story. “But there’s nothing SFI can do because we don’t have a mandate or authority at events conducted by the university games federation.
He said the university meet’s results don’t count for national team selection or for national records, because the federation knows the meet’s results are not reliable.
Meanwhile Kiren Rijiju, India’s Minister of State of the Ministroy of Youth Affairs and Sports, responded to the allegations on Twitter, saying that authorities are already in touch with All-India Inter-University officials
I have taken congnizance of the issue. Director General of Sports Authority of India is in touch with AIU officials. The matter is being investigated by AIU and I am confident that the correct course of action will be taken soon. https://t.co/MejbSiOWQ6
— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) November 3, 2019
I would like to make it very clear;
All organizations must ensure integrity of Sports. Transparency, fairness and equity in the sport world is a basic condition necessary to enhance opportunities for everyone to participate. There should be no scope for manipulation. https://t.co/YEhxNfoRDQ— Kiren Rijiju (@KirenRijiju) November 3, 2019
After that debacle, how do you take Indian swimming seriously? What a way to demoralize an entire sport
SwimSwam all over that hot Indian swimming news.
What false start? The whistle was late.
I think not having touch pads should be the least of their concerns…
Hilarious.
If they produce a meet video they should use “Yakety Sax” as the soundtrack.
You have countries like Russia engaging in sophisticated, nearly undetectable cheating, and then you have India lmao
A couple of years ago there was an Indian woman who allegedly had a male swim for her in the 50 breast and he crushed the national record (or she dropped a massive amount of time off her best…). It never got ratified because of the controversy, but I don’t think they ever got to the bottom of it (at least, SwimSwam didn’t report on a resolution.. doesn’t mean it didn’t happen). It’s still one of my favorite instances of cheating in swimming.
That said, it’s a shame these athletes had to endure such unfairness. Hopefully the system can be fixed and they can have a fair playing ground.
Yes, remember that…here’s a link to the swimswam article: https://staging2.swimswam.com/indian-swimmer-breaks-national-record-three-seconds-amid-controversy-bermuda/
(Looks like we both commented on it at the time too!) 😅
This comment is anti Trans .
Death threats against protesters of swim results?? Wow I didn’t know India takes the sport of swimming so seriously!!