Big blow for Sri Lankan swimmers

Aniqah Gaffoor, the only Lankan at the meet

Five of the six simmers expected to compete at the ongoing FINA World Swimming Championships had a heartbreak as their travel to Hungary was denied due to a visa issuance stoppage affecting the country as a whole. This year’s Long Course World Championships, which started only yesterday, is being held at Budapest, Hungary.

However, the Lankan-born Aniqah Gaffoor, living in Thanyapura, Thailand, is the only Lankan to compete this time since she is a FINA scholarship athlete. The Olympian will be competing in 50m and 100m Butterfly events.

The Sri Lanka Aquatic Sports Union (SLASU), for a few weeks now, were dealing with a common problem as the German embassy had halted the process, and consequently, the five Lankan swimmers were denied and deprived of competing in a major meet.

The Sunday Times found the swimmers are rueing missing out on a golden opportunity after the SLASU had given up four days ago. A team member, having been all set to swim, only rued by saying,"It’s very disappointing. We are missing out on a hell of a chance,"

A swimmer said he was even privately trying as his last event is only later next week. The Sunday Times learnt there still had been another avenue to fly via New Delhi, costing an extra Rs.400,000, but that remained unexplored due to the impracticality surrounding it.

"If those (reasons for visa halting) are revealed there will be unnecessary diplomatic relations," Akry Ameer, the manager, who also should have gone on tour, refused to reveal.

Asked whether the Sports Ministry or FINA or other means weren’t approached, he said, "All of those were tried. But we can’t go through them."

He reasoned out, they have to go through the New Delhi Hungarian Consulate and almost every athlete needs to be present in-person. Of the six swimmers though, two – Akalanka Peiris and Ganga Senevirathne – were sure to swim under a full sponsorship by the FINA. They have been innocently penalised.

It's understood only the top two swimmers can be fully sponsored. The rest though, have to cover themselves for the airfare and meals. Certain swimmers have claimed they can manage to find funds, costing a little over a million.

One swimmer, despite handing over the documents, had only found the files lying unattended at the SLASU office.

"Though I was sick I still came to check the documents. These people have not even applied for a visa. First of all, for a visa to be rejected it should've been applied. But it was only found lying at the SLASU office," the source complained.

The five swimmers scheduled to go were – Akalanka Peiris, Dinal Weerasinghe, Ganga Seneviratne, Dilanka Shehan and Seneshi Herath.