Indian Men’s & Women’s Football team are set to take part in 2023 Asian Games in Hangzhou in September after the Sports Ministry granted an exemption.
The green signal comes after the Indian Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports decided to relax its stance on the criteria which decided which Indian sports teams can participate at the continental meet.
The rule, earlier relayed to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and other national sports federations by the ministry, stated that ‘for team events, only those sports teams which have achieved a ranking up to eighth among participating countries of Asia in the last one year should be considered for participation in Asian Games’.
Indian Men’s Team is ranked 18th & Women’s Team 11th in the continent.
The Indian team will now play in the Asian Games for the first time since 2014 after the same criteria had ruled it out of the 2018 Games in Jakarta.
Football in the Asian Games is a U-23 tournament with three players above that age are also permitted in a team.
Recently, Indian Men’s team won Tri-Nation Series, Intercontinental Cup and the SAFF Cup while women’s team won their first round of Olympic qualifiers in April by beating Kyrgyzstan over two legs.
In Asian Games, Indian men’s football team won gold medals at the New Delhi 1951 and Jakarta 1962 Asian Games and clinched a bronze at Bangkok 1970.
Women’s football in Asian Games was introduced in 1990 and Indian women’s team, played in only two Asian Games editions so far, finishing eighth at Bangkok 1998 and ninth at Incheon 2014.
Picture Courtesy: Social Media
