A series of last-minute crew changes in India’s men’s rowing team has triggered a controversy, with players saying a top federation official warned them that their “future would be ruined” and even told them to return to India if they didn’t agree to the new teams.Denying any “heated conversation”, the Rowing Federation of India (RFI) president, Balaji Maradapa, blamed “outside forces” for the crisis. He said they needed to change the teams as the rowing competition had been shrunk to two days.The confrontation came on the eve of the rowing competition at the Asian Games, which began in Gifu on Wednesday.The rowers’ anger centred on the decision to break up established crews just two days before the competition, with athletes moved between events and reserve rowers brought into first-team combinations.For instance, the quartet of Babulal Yadav, Jaswinder Singh, Nitin Kumar and Yogesh Kumar were selected for the men’s four team initially and had trained together for the past six months. However, Jaswinder and Nitin were removed, and replaced by Saurav Kumar and Vipul Ghurde.The event has been included in seven Asian Games editions and India has won a medal in six of those, including a bronze at the Hangzhou Asian Games. On Wednesday, the team finished fourth in its heat with a time of 6:30.47 and was eliminated.Saying that they were speaking on behalf of the team, two rowers said the changes had shattered team combinations that had been built over seven to eight months of preparation. Some of them discussed skipping the training session on Tuesday or going on strike, but returned to practice following talks with officials and coaches, they said.Story continues below this adThe rowers, who did not want to be named for fear of being targeted, alleged that when they appealed against the changes to the coaches and the federation, their concerns were dismissed.They said Maradapa told them that their refusal to race would have no impact on him and warned them about the consequences on their careers.“We requested so much, we said please fix it. They said it can’t be done,” one rower said. “The RFI president shouted at us. He said, ‘If you don’t race, nothing will happen to me. I will enjoy life. Your future will be ruined. If you don’t want to race, then book tickets and go back (to India).’ This incident happened on Tuesday morning,” the rower said.When contacted, Maradapa said he spoke to the rowers, but “it wasn’t a heated conversation”. He blamed “outside forces” for the crisis. “I spoke to about eight fellows. I told them: ‘You look at your future. You have a long future ahead. I am talking to you like you are my children. Think what is good for you and don’t get monitored by somebody who’s ten thousand kilometres away’,” he said.Story continues below this adDefending the move, Maradapa said that since the rowing programme had been compressed from four days to two days due to Typhoon Dujuan, they had to devise a fresh strategy for the Games. He said the changes were made after consultation with chief coach Anthony Patterson, and argued that athletes could not be expected to compete in multiple events in such a compressed window.The rowers, however, said the changes ignored the demands of a sport in which combinations are built over time. “You can’t just get a person sitting next to you and row with him… It takes a lot of time to have that level of coordination,” said a rower.The disruption, the rowers said, went beyond disappointment. It affected the mood and routine of the entire camp on the eve of the competition. “I was very disappointed. The morale of the team has gone down. Nobody ate, nobody felt like eating,” said a rower.Another described the atmosphere as one of despair. “The team that was chosen by the selection committee has been changed completely. All of us are saddened and disappointed by what has happened at the last minute. We are in such depression that we don’t know what to do,” he said.Story continues below this adAccording to the rowers, the original combinations gave them a realistic chance of continuing India’s strong record in the sport at the Asian Games. At the previous Asian Games in Hangzhou, India won five rowing medals — two silver and three bronze. This time, after the upheaval, four Indian men’s boats have reached the finals. A women’s crew, too, is in contention for a medal.“We have always won medals in rowing at the Asian Games,” one said. “We had given the coaches assurance that we would continue that tradition. If our crew gets back, we will win the medal. But they refused. This is the hardest we had worked (before the Games). We did everything that was asked of us. But the changes two days before the race has impacted us a lot.”