But the administrator of the pool arrived at 9.15 and the parents and the children made a beeline to his office demanding to know the fate of the meet. Some started raising slogans and some criticised the administration for the callous attitude in not throwing the pool open for the meet. A letter from the Delhi Swimming Association (DSA) for a formal booking was received at the administrator's office at 10.20 and finally an order from the top came, allowing DSA to conduct the meet. As a result, by the time the meet started it was close to noon.

There were about 50 events scheduled for the day as the Open meet consisted of some age groups -- VII and VIII -- which consumed more time as the number of participants were considerably more and several heats had to be conducted before the final.

However, in certain age groups only time-trials were held and the organisers were able to squeeze through the events even as the sun was setting.

The opening day saw just a couple of meet records being sunk. Pankaj Rathi of JSTS won a gold in 200m free in Boys Group I with a time of 2:12.88 which erased the previous best of 2:13.84 by Bhanu Sachdeva of JSTS in 1995. Yudhvir Tokas of CRPF timed 1:02.79 for the recorrd in 100m butterfly to obliterate Chand Tokas' mark of 1:03.18, set in 1996.

In other groups, both in boys and girls sections, there were no surprises as the stronger ones passed the test without much a do.