Aiming for more at Asian Games: IOA at crossroads to send more teams from India to Hangzhou 2022

Two weeks after its triumphant SAFF Championship marketing campaign, Indian soccer acquired a impolite jolt as a ‘selection criteria’ set by the Ministry of Youth and Sports Affairs dominated out its participation on the Asian Games for the second time in a row.

The Asian Games 2023 will happen from September 23 to October 8, and the soccer competitors will characteristic under-23 groups from taking part nations, with provision for 3 over-age gamers.

India gained the gold medal on the Asian Games twice (1951 and 1962) and the bronze medal as soon as in 1970. But its efficiency within the event has declined since.

In its final look on the Asian Games in 2014, it completed on the backside of the group stage and twenty sixth general among the many 29 taking part nations.

In 2023, although, Igor Stimac’s facet, the senior Indian National Team, has had a optimistic begin.

It has gained three titles to date—the Tri-Nations Series, the Intercontinental Cup, and the SAFF Championship—and has returned to the highest 100 (99) of the FIFA Rankings after 5 years. However, its rating in Asia has not been wherever shut to eight—the cut-off set by the Ministry for Team Sports for the Asian Games.

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So, what are the choice standards set by the centre?

The round from the centre reads, “For team events, only those teams that have achieved a ranking up to 8th among participating countries of the concerned tournaments in the last year should be considered for participation in the respective tournaments.”

India ranks seventeenth in Asia within the newest FIFA rankings.

The approach round

The Ministry’s round has a caveat.

“In events where rankings are not maintained or where sportspersons have not been able to improve their ranking on account of reasons like lack of exposure in international tournaments, appropriate criteria may be adopted by the National Sports Federation (NSF) in consultation with this Ministry,” it states.

Just a few National Sports Federations (NSFs) have used this caveat to pick out squads—by means of nationwide trials or on the discretion of the apex sports activities physique when crew rating just isn’t accessible.

One of the newest but distinguished examples is that of the Indian Lawn Bowls crew chosen for the Commonwealth Games. The Bowling Federation of India used its discretion, retaining in thoughts a set of insurance policies, to appoint the crew for Birmingham 2022.

The girls’s fours crew gained India’s first gold medal within the self-discipline, and the lads’s fours crew gained the silver medal.

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Disciplines equivalent to bridge, rowing, golf, skateboarding, equestrian, breakdancing, eSports, and capturing have named their squads after trials.

On the opposite hand, AITA (All India Tennis Association) and the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) have picked the groups on their very own.

For particular person sports activities, the criterium has been relaxed by the IOA, making the highest eight (in Asia) the edge (as a substitute of the highest 6).

Swimming comes as a blaring exception right here. 

India has gained two bronze medals within the final 36 years on the Asian Games and returned empty-handed from the final version of the Games.

However, the Swimming Federation of India (SFI), contemplating the National Championships as choice trials, introduced a 36-member Indian squad for the aquatic disciplines for the Asian Games.

Beach Volleyball is one other attention-grabbing case.

The Volleyball Federation of India (VFI) has been embroiled in infighting for a while now, and its recognition as an NSF has additionally not been renewed since December 2019. As a outcome, the Sports Ministry directed the IOA to type an advert hoc committee to take care of the affairs of the federations.

“The ministry has reconsidered the matter in the context of the longstanding impasse and the existing state of affairs that continues to affect the sport of volleyball in the country due to persistent factionalism in the VFI,” the letter acknowledged.

The advert hoc committee comprised 4 members, two of whom have been from the IOA: Rohit Rajpal, Executive Council Member as Chairman, and Alaknanda Ashok (Joint Secretary). And below this committee, the squads for the Asian Games have been chosen.

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The final time India participated in seashore volleyball on the Asian Games, it completed seventeenth out of 25 spots. But after open trials within the self-discipline this month, the seashore volleyball facet was finalised in Chennai on July 15.

However, sources advised Sportstar that the volleyball groups are unlikely to get the nod for Hangzhou, as the lads’s facet and ladies’s facet are ranked fifteenth and 14th in Asia, respectively.

The scope for exemptions

The Ministry additionally has provisions for particular exemptions.

“In the opinion of the experts of specific sports disciplines and that of the Sports Authority of India, participation of individuals and teams in relaxation of the above criteria is recommended with justifiable reasons, and the same will be considered in the Ministry for appropriate decision,” the Ministry’s round, dated July 10, 2023, states.

One of the beneficiaries of this provision was the lads’s handball crew on the final Asian Games. This time, too, with the crew ranked fifteenth, it would look to hunt an identical profit.

“We have a go-ahead from the Asian Handball Federation. We have the squad ready. The last time the team went with a special exemption from IOA, and the federation is hoping for the same this time,” Tejraj Singh, the treasurer of the Handball Association of India, advised Sportstar.

“If that does not happen, the Federation will look to sponsor the campaign at the Asian Games.”

“The Women’s Team (Ranked 6th in Asia) is definitely going. The Junior Handball Championships in Noida will conclude on July 24, after which the camp will begin in Ayodhya, and then the team will fly to Japan for further training,” he added.

India’s bills for all the marketing campaign on the Asian Games, which embody kits, journey, and keep, are borne by the Government of India. This consists of all squads accredited by the Ministry of Sports and Youth Affairs and the Sports Authority of India.

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In case a sport misses out, the Federation can sponsor the crew’s marketing campaign with its funds.

There have been a number of situations prior to now the place a federation has paid from its pocket to help an athlete overseas, just like the Kudo International Federation paying for the 18-member contingent on the Kudo World Cup 2023.

But travelling below the aegis of the Centre stays a precedence over self-funding.

“There is no categorical ‘NO’ from the Ministry yet. But we have requested an exception as soon as possible,” Shaji Prabhakaran, the Secretary General of the All India Football Federation, mentioned.

Monal Chokshi, the Secretary General of the Swimming Federation of India, additionally advised Sportstar that he’s attempting his finest to get permission for the water polo crew to be allowed on the Asiad.

“We had been working with the Serbian Water Polo Federation since January 2022 to train our team for the Asian Games, which were then postponed,” he mentioned.

“We had disbanded the camp because of the postponement sometime in June, but we got the invitation for the Asian Water World Championships in Thailand, so we put our team back, and we stood 9th there. So, our ranking comes from that championship.”

“We need to up our game a lot before we start sending teams to competitions in Europe. The only option for us is to play in competitions in Asia, which are not too many.

“So, we have been telling the government that, look, unless and until we make these kinds of progressive changes, we’re never going to develop the discipline. That is the premise on which we are expecting the government to make some concessions,” he added.

Chokshi is awaiting a response from the federal government.

So is Kulvinder Singh Gill, a former worldwide basketball participant and the present General Secretary of the Basketball Federation of India.

“I’m certain that the Indian women’s team will go. We are still discussing the decision on the men’s team with the Centre,” he advised Sportstar.

In such circumstances, the ladies’s softball crew offers hope.

With a rank of tenth in Asia and properly out of the edge for qualification, it (together with Singapore) obtained its approval from Softball Asia as wild playing cards to take part within the Asian Games throughout its govt committee assembly on February 23.

“Performing at the Asian Games is our first step and comes with a huge responsibility as we aspire to be a strong team ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics,” President of the Softball Association of India Neetal Narang advised PTI. The crew’s destiny, nonetheless, stays topic to approval from the IOA.

AIFF is hoping for the same revival below president Kalyan Chaubey, who can be the Joint Secretary of the IOA.

Though a number of sports activities have squads prepared for the Asian Games, rankings and laws proceed to be impediments to the Hangzhou dream. With the Indian contingent aiming to surpass the medal tally of 2018 (70), will probably be attention-grabbing to see if the IOA approves extra groups for the Games.