Asian Games 2018: Indian Football team denied clearance by IOA

Indian Football team have been denied clearance by Indian Olympic Association (IOA) for the Asian Games 2018. The All Indian Football Federation (AIFF) confirmed in a press release on Sunday. They were highly unhappy with the decision of excluding the Indian team from the competition.

Indian Football team manager, Stephen Constantine had earlier said that the Olympic Committee and the government had agreed to send the Indian team to the Asian games. However, they did not receive anything in writing. And with this indigestible decision it is clear that he was alerted with a false news.

General Secretary of the AIFF, Kushal Das said, “It is true that both the Men’s and Women’s football teams have been rejected from going to the Asian Games. IOA has cited the non-fulfillment of their team sport qualification criteria as the reason behind the omission.”

Also Read: No empty seats today at Mumbai Football Arena after Sunil Chetri’s entreaty

According to the criteria, the country must be amongst top eight in Asia to qualify but the Men’s team is ranked 14th in Asia. But the main reason for AIFF fuming is that these norms have been flexible in the past and there can be an exception made with team India doing so well in the recent past.

“It’s clear IOA lacks the vision and competence to understand that football is a global sport played by 212 countries and that the top five teams in Asia play in the Fifa World Cup where the level of competition is far superior to the Asian Games. It is indeed a sad state of affairs for sport in India that the IOA is unable to distinguish the specific needs of each sport in the country. The IOA was never even bothered to even once discuss with the AIFF the strategy and plans for developing football in India” the AIFF said in a press release.

India recently clinched the Intercontinental cup in Mumbai and are ranked 97th in the world rankings.