Jayaprakash and Chokshi elected President and Secretary of SFI

Speaking to the media, Jayaprakash, who took over from Digambat Kamat, said while it is a “great honour to be elected President”, his priority will be to increase the number of participants at the grassroots level.

Published : May 17, 2019 23:26 IST

Even as the SFI will focus on increasing their base, president Jayaprakash said the core group of senior swimmers will be moved either to Bangalore or Pune and will be monitored by a panel of coaches. (REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE)

A new set of office-bearers took charge at the Swimming Federation of India (SFI) AGM held on Friday, with R.N. Jayaprakash of Tamil Nadu and Gujarat's D. Chokshi Monal being unanimously elected as President and Secretary respectively. This is the first time, an administrator from Tamil Nadu has been chosen for the top post in SFI. Speaking to the media, Jayaprakash, who took over from Digambat Kamat, said while it is a “great honour to be elected President”, his priority will be to increase the number of participants at the grassroots level. Even as the SFI will focus on increasing the base, Jayaprakash said the core group of senior (men and women) swimmers will be moved either to Bangalore or Pune and will be monitored by a panel of coaches.

READ: TCS World 10K: Rose Chelimo braces up for 'tough and fast' race On which of the Indian swimmers would be able to perform well at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Jayaprakash picked Sajan Prakash and Virdhawal Khade as those with the potential to make it to the semifinals of the quadrennial event. The senior national championships will be held in Bhopal or Pune in October-November 2019 while the junior and the sub-junior nationals will be held in Ranchi in June-July. The highlight would be the Asian age group championships that will be held in Bengaluru from September 24 to October 2. S. Pradeep Kumar will continue to be the National coach and SFI said it is yet to take a call on whether to appoint a foreign coach or not.

ALSO READ: Dutee Chand is a polished and feared runner in the circuit, says coach Ramesh The SDAT-Velachery Aquatic Complex, informed Jayaprakash, has to be renovated if Chennai is to host a big National or an International meet.

“Renovation [at Velachery Complex] has been not been done  since it was constructed for the SAF Games in 1995. We have given 20 representations, I’ve met five member secretaries of Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu. Nothing has moved. It might require 4-5 crores. We don’t have touchpads, underwater cameras, scoreboards, starting blocks, among other things,” said the President.  

The office-bearers:President: R.N. Jayaprakash; Secretary: Chokshi Monal; Treasurer: Mekala Ramakrishna; Vice-Presidents: Balraj Sharma, Rajiv Sukumaran Nair, Kamlesh D Nanavati, Piyush Sharma, Anil Vyas; Jt. Secretaries: R.B. Pandey, Ravin Kapoor, Mohan Satish Kumar, Anil Khatri.