Swimming Federation of India is hopeful that its men’s water polo team will make it to the Hangzhou Asian Games despite it not being ranked in the top eight in Asia.
The men’s team finished ninth in the Asian Championships in Bang Sao Thong district, Thailand in November 2022, but this year in March it didn’t participate because the tournament was moved from the Philippines to Singapore at a short notice giving no time for SFI to field a team.
However, SFI is hopeful that it will get a favourable response from the Sports Ministry.
“We have given a proposal to the Sports Ministry to consider us. In the revised Sports Ministry guidelines, I believe we have a good chance to make it to Hangzhou.
“And the last time an Indian men’s water polo team made it to the Games was way back in 1986 in South Korea. If given a chance, we might finish sixth as we have been training well under the Serbian coach Babovic Miodrag for nine months,” SFI secretary Monal Chokshi told The Hindu after watching the National sub-junior & junior aquatic championships in diving and water polo in Chennai.