Exclusive | Indian record holder Tejas Nandakumar banned from 2026 Commonwealth Games – ‘I’m completely devastated’ Commonwealth Games News
New Delhi: It has been an incredible 24 hours for Indian men’s S7 100m backstroke national record holder Tejas Nandakumar.The 20-year-old from Bengaluru was supposed to compete in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow starting from July 23 and everything was gearing up for that moment. Training, qualifying, visa documents and even the measurements of ceremonial equipment have been completed. When the official list of participants is released on Friday, his name will be on it. Twenty-four hours later, everything fell apart. Tejas has fully qualified for the Men’s 50m Freestyle S7 and his entry has been accepted. But during the final verification process, he was ruled ineligible, not because of anything to do with his swimming, but because of his classification status.His current designation is “Review-2025,” which does not meet the requirements for confirmed status or a locked review date of 2027 or later.“I am completely devastated. It has absolutely nothing to do with my swimming, my fitness or my performance,” he told TOI in an exclusive interaction. “This is strictly a technical issue and there is no time left.”Classification determines how athletes are grouped according to the nature and extent of their impairment to ensure fair competition in disability sports.“Review 2025” means that the international classification body determines that its sport category may change and require reassessment before or during 2025. In contrast, a “confirmed” classification indicates that the athlete’s sport category is considered stable and is not expected to change.Under Commonwealth Games qualification rules, athletes must hold a confirmed grade or have a review date set for 2027 or later to ensure stability. Since the review of Tejas is scheduled for 2025, he was deemed ineligible even though he qualified on the basis of merit.
Could this situation have been avoided?“Maybe. But the administrative arrangements and paperwork required to lock that status simply didn’t happen in a timely manner,” he added.The rejection was particularly painful for him because he had spent the past 18 months pursuing classification opportunities in three countries. He competed in games in Barcelona, Paris and Australia and even funded a trip himself to secure the status Glasgow needed.One of the attempts was entirely his own. Terjas said he had personally funded his trip to Paris in the hope it would help secure the qualifications needed to keep Glasgow in the running. But he never got the sorting window he needed to reassess his identity. When he sensed trouble was coming for the Commonwealth Games, he tried again, submitting his entry fee for the March 2026 games in Fuji Shizuoka, Japan. But this attempt also failed as he never secured a spot and eventually quit.“Honestly, to say I was completely devastated would be an understatement,” he admitted. “You have dedicated your life to representing your country and to have your medal taken away due to a technical issue without even jumping in the pool is a heavy burden to swallow.”He believes that India’s sports bodies, which include the Sports Authority of India (SAI) and the Paralympic Committee of India (PCI), have the ability and opportunity to close this gap and avoid losing another athlete’s chance of reaching the podium, especially with the Asian Para Games and Paralympic Games around the corner.“PCI actually stood by me and tried to be supportive,” he told SciDev.Net. “My understanding of the process is that it really boils down to a matter of administrative priorities; if the Para Swimming Federation had been more proactive on the part of the process, the classification window might well have been secured. I don’t want to point fingers directly or cause controversy, but that’s essentially where the structural bottleneck is.”“
PCI: “Getting a classification slot is very difficult”
When asked if the governing body was trying to intervene, Indian Paralympic Committee Para Swimming Chairman Virender Kumar Dabas told TOI: “No, pushing things will not work here. He should classify himself. He will be reclassified in 2025. He should be more careful and he has been reminded time and time again.”Dabas pointed out that while acknowledging that Tejas flew to Paris and Australia for events, they missed out due to massive backlog,
“It is the prerogative of World Para Swimming to allocate qualifying places. Especially in Europe, it is very difficult to get qualifying places… because there is too much rush and there is too much waiting. He went to Paris and did not get a qualifying place. Very unfortunate.”Dabas stressed that the PCI had no say in the selection of the Commonwealth Games and dismissed the possibility of last-minute political interference.“We do not select athletes. The selection comes from the top of international bodies. If there were other documentation issues, they could have been approved and corrected,” he added.Dabas concluded that this outcome was a definite, albeit unfortunate, reality that athletes had been warned about.“He is a good kid but he is unlucky. What to do? We told him earlier that although his name was obtained from World Para Swimming through the IOA, the chances are less,” he further said. “He was informed about it. Because when they checked one by one, they found that he was not eligible to compete in 2026.”
‘I will hold my head high’: Tejas Nandakumar
To prevent similar situations in the future, Nandakumar called for the establishment of a dedicated classification fund separate from the standard “foreign exposure” competition budget, as the current policy typically only covers one international competition per year, along with a system for identifying and prioritizing medal-contending athletes for classification opportunities in advance, and a two- to three-year planning cycle that reflects the time swimmers take to prepare for major competitions.“They should definitely prioritize top swimmers first,” Nandakumar said. “I just hope it brings immediate attention to these administrative timelines so we can protect others from getting into a situation like this.”For now, Tejas insists the setback won’t define him. “I’m going to hold my head high. I’m not going to let this define me,” he concluded. “My focus immediately shifted and my sights were completely fixed on preparing and delivering for India at the upcoming Asian Para Games.”
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