The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has turned down the Uzbekistan Swimming Federation’s appeal against world body FINA’s decision to invalidate results of an Olympic qualifying tournament after Indian swimmer Likith Selvaraj complained of manipulation in the event.
“FINA acknowledges the award of the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejecting the Uzbekistan Swimming Federation’s appeal against the FINA Executive’s decision not to recognise certain results from the Uzbekistan Open Swimming Cup, held between 24-29 November 2020 and the Uzbekistan Open Swimming Championships, held between 13-17 April 2021,” said a statement from the governing body.
The FINA Executive’s decision was made after receiving “evidence establishing that certain results from these two events had been manipulated by the Uzbekistan Swimming Federation in an attempt to qualify Uzbek swimmers for the Tokyo Olympic Games.”
FINA said that its Ethics Panel will now investigate whether further sanctions should be imposed on the Uzbekistan Swimming Federation and any other implicated party.
Selvaraj’s charge
In a video uploaded on YouTube in April, Selvaraj had alleged that the timings were “manipulated” to ensure qualification of Uzbek swimmers from the April 13-17 event in Tashkent.
He had alleged that organisers of the tournament even tried to bribe him when he protested.
“FINA will not stand for any forms of cheating or event manipulation,” the body stated.
