‘Timings were tampered with’

Likith claims Uzbek officials offered a bribe to not go public with his grievances

India swimmer S.P. Likith has alleged that organisers at the recently held Uzbekistan Open Swimming Championships (April 13-17) tampered with race timings to suit local athletes. The competition was a Tokyo 2020 qualification event, where Srihari Nataraj came within 0.22 seconds of making the A-cut in 100m backstroke and Indian swimmers finished with a rich haul of medals. “Likith, who was looking the make the B-cut for Tokyo, secured silver medals in 50m and 100m breaststroke events.