Bright Chance

Jamshedpur, May 30: The hope of Jharkhand Swimming Association (JSA) getting recognition of the state Olympic body brightened today with Swimming Federation of India clarifying that the JSA was its permanent member.

Virendra Nanawati, the federation’s general secretary, said that there should not be any confusion over the membership issue of JSA.

“The letter issued by us clearly states that it has been decided to grant affiliation to JSA from the financial year 2008-09 on payment of admission fee of Rs 500 and affiliation fee of as much amount to the federation,” he said.

Nanawati told The Telegraph over phone from Ahmedabad: “We took a decision to grant affiliation to the Jharkhand swimming body at a meeting in Delhi on January 20.”

According to him, the JSA was granted provisional affiliation in 2002 after Jharkhand became a new state. “We wanted a new body in place in Jharkhand as we did not want swimmers to suffer,” he said.

However, JOA officials said they were still “reluctant” to treat the JSA as its member. They refrained from commenting when asked the reason for reluctance.

“We have sought clarifications from the federation. Let them first clarify the position on the matter pertaining to the state association,” they added.

JSA secretary Rambalak Singh said they had requested the JOA and the state government to guide them in conducting swimming affairs in the state since the National Games is not very far. “We cannot hold training camps for the Games on our own without JOA membership,” he added.

It is not clear how much time the JOA would take to entertain JSA’s membership claim. Till such time, state swimmers, especially the ones hailing from this part of Jharkhand, would have to remain confused about whether they would be able to participate in the National Games or not.