Manaa patel

SFI General Secretary Monal Choksi:  A late rule change by the Organising Committee of the Hangzhou Asian Games which restricted the pre-event accommodation at the Games village had nearly derailed the Swimming Federation of India's (SFI) plans to allow the Indian swimmers enough time to get acclimatized to the conditions before the Games opened on September 23.

In the end, SFI had to bail out the team and fork out the money to help them hold a small acclimatisation camp in China and prepare for the 19th Asian Games.

However, their plans had nearly come unstuck as the Organising Committee of Hangzhou Asian Games decided to open the Asian Games Athletes Village facility only three days before the opening ceremony, instead of five days as was decided earlier. It is a norm that village facilities for such mega events are provided a few days earlier so players can acclimate.