Maharashtra's top swimmer Mihir Ambre alleges mistreatment at selection trials

Maharashtras leading swimmer Mihir Ambre 22 is up in arms alleging mistreatment at the recent time trials in Thane August 68 for the upcoming Senior Nationals and National Games The Sr Nationals are to be held in Guwahati in the first week of September while Ahmedabad will host the National Games in SeptemberOctoberAmbre who won one gold a silver and one bronze for India at the South Asian Games in Kathmandu in 2019 claims that Olympian Virdhawal Khade and Rajendra Palkar both part of the Swimming Federation of Indiaappointed fivemember Maharashtra selection committee have been unfair to himMihir AmbreAccording to Ambre firstly his performance at the Singapore Nationals an international event last June was not considered He won three gold medals 100m butterfly clocking 542 seconds 50m butterfly in 2466secs and 50m freestyle in 2326secsmdashand a silver in the 4x100m medley relay there ldquoTheir own circular clearly says that if you have participated in an international meet in the last three months they Maharashtra selection committee will accept the timings I won three gold medals and one silver at the Singapore Nationals So I just asked them to grant me an exemption from competing in the time trials but they committee members refused and insisted that I participate in the trialsrdquo Ambre told midday recently from Bangalore where he trains under renowned coach Nihar AmeenlsquoWas unwell but still swamrsquoldquoOn their insistence I participated but since I was a bit unwell I did not have a great finish I participated in the 100m butterfly finishing around fourth I think I then requested them to give me a second chance in the event but they refused that too Then on the second day August 7 of the trial I participated in the 50m butterfly where I gave them a first touch first place I also participated in the 50m freestyle where I gave them a clear second touch But the results that they announced showed I was third in 50m freestyle and second in the 50m butterfly events The problem is that there was no touchpad which automatically records timings of finishes when a swimmer touches it at the end of a race They had manual timekeepers and when timings are written down physically there is always room for manipulationrdquo added Ambre who was hesitant to raise his voice initially for fear of not being selected but felt he had to do so for the betterment of other swimmers and the sportVirdhawal KhadeldquoI am Indiarsquos No1 but they committee might not send me for the National Games because their selection procedure is incorrect The Sr Nationals and National Games are major events Irsquom sure of winning medals there I didnrsquot speak to Khade as he is very arrogant I spoke to Palkar My mother spoke to Khade but both of them refused to accept our requestsrdquo said AmbreAlso Read Loss in the Commonwealth Games final is hard to digestKhade refutes allegationsKhade refuted the allegations ldquoThe problem started when he Ambre came fourth in his main event 100m butterfly You get only one chance He came fourth and demanded a retrial and insisted that his entry be sent to the Nationals as the third swimmer We only send the top two swimmers for the Nationalsrdquo Khade told middayThe 2008 Beijing Olympian however admitted granting exemptions to two swimmersmdashVedaant Madhavan and Kenisha Guptamdash and accepting their recent international meet timings because they are out of India ldquoHe Ambre is still young Such things can be a good learning experience for him I took part in plenty of international competitions and even I was disqualified a few times He and Sajan Prakash a leading national swimmer from Kerala are in the same events We all know how good Sajan is and who is No1 There is no doubt that Ambre has been among Indiarsquos top three for the last three four years but we cannot discourage other swimmers for the sake of one man He needs to be more professionalrdquo Khade addedTouchpads too expensive PalkarMeanwhile Palkar who is convenor of the selection committee admitted that there was manual timekeeping at the trials as the touchpad technology is very expensive ldquoThe swimming pool at Thane is a national standard facility All the boards and the starting blocks are as per recognised standards Karnataka is the only place in the country where touchpads are used to detect timings in swimming competitions It costs over Rs 250 lakh to use a touchpad in one competition We only use this technology at the Nationals Elsewhere there are no sponsors so no one uses itrdquo Palkar explainedThe Maharashtra swimming team for the Sr Nationals and the National Games will be announced in a couple of days