Realizing "the importance of adopting a focused and systematic approach to raise the country’s overall standard," the Swimming Federation of India "has set a target of preparing the promising swimmers for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics," according to Y.B. Sarangi of THE HINDU. The SFI has sent a list of foreign coaches to the Sports Ministry for its approval and "hopes to hire their services from early next year to groom the youngsters." SFI Secretary Kamlesh Nanavati said, "We have began our preparations for the 2020 Olympics. We are planning to have foreign coaches and will select four to five swimmers who can be trained for the 2020 Games. One top foreign coach will train only the core group, while others will train the next line of swimmers. We have given names of three to four coaches to the Government and they have to approve the names as they will be paying the foreign coaches. The Glenmark Foundation will also help the SFI in this regard." The SFI "is keen on opening" regional centers to "provide platforms to budding talent." Nanavati: "The center in Delhi has already started functioning and we are looking at the possibility of setting up centers in East, perhaps at the South Asian Games venue in Assam, South and in Ahmedabad or Gandhinagar in West" (THE HINDU, 9/29).
