Paris Olympics 2024: Indian swimmer Aryan Nehra narrowly misses the universality quota by just 2 points
Top Indian swimmer Aryan Nehra missed out on representing India at the Paris Olympics 2024 under ‘Universality Quota’ according to the Swimming Federation of India’s announcement on Wednesday, June 26. The top-ranked male and female swimmers namely Srihari Nataraj and Dhinidhi Desinghuare have been selected.
While Nataraj will compete in the men’s 100 backstroke event, Dhinidhi will take part in the women’s 200m freestyle competition.
Notably, Aryan Nehra narrowly missed after being just two points behind Srihari after his last qualification attempt in Canada.
Statistically speaking, Nataraj is currently holding the top spot in the World Aquatics points table among male Indian swimmers with 849 points while Dhinidhi Desinghu is the highest-ranked female Indian swimmer with 749 points.
Nataraj and Desinghu's qualification came after the June 23 qualification deadline without any Indian swimmer directly qualified for the quadrennial event. Though Aryan Nehra was closely following Nataraj, the Universality Places system allows only one swimmer per gender.
Swimming Federation of India (SFI) had the option to request for Universality Quota places
It’s worth noting that this will be Srihari Nataraj’s second Olympic appearance after the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. On the other hand, Dhinidhi will be making her Games debut at Paris 2024. Interestingly, the 14-year-old Dhinidhi will be the youngest athlete in the Indian contingent in Paris.
The Swimming Federation of India (SFI) had the option to request Universality Quota places since no Indian swimmer managed to direct Olympic qualification via Olympic Qualification Time (OQT) or the Olympic Consideration Time (OCT) in any event within the qualification window between March 1, 2023 and June 23, 2024.
According to the Universality Quota rule, NOCs without any qualified athlete or relay team can enter a maximum of two athletes – one female and one male – in one event each.
The Universality Places qualification system will allow nations to recommend their two highest-ranked swimmers for the mega event if none makes the cut through the direct qualification.
Importantly, Srihari took part in the World Aquatics Championships 2023 in Fukuoka, Japan while Dhinidhi competed in the Worlds 2024 in Doha, Qatar. Swimming competitions at Paris Olympics 2024 are scheduled to take place between July 27 and August 4.