Indian football team's chances of competing at the Asian Games for a second straight time are slim.
As the Indian football team does not match the Sports Ministry's requirement of being among the top-8 sides in the continent, it seems improbable that it would participate in the Asian Games for a second time in a row.
The All-India Football Federation (AIFF), led by Kalyan Chaubey, is now in the odd position of hoping for some indulgence from the Indian Olympic Association, of which he is the acting CEO and joint secretary. Additionally, the AIFF will hope that the government waives their rule.
The AIFF had chosen Igor Stimac as the team's senior coach after selecting 40 players for the event, which is intended for Under-23 players with a maximum of three players older than the required age.
The football competition will start on September 19 at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, which run from September 23 to October 8. The countries have until the next Saturday to submit their final entries.
The Sports Ministry has stated that "for team events, only those sports which have achieved a ranking up to eighth among participating countries of Asia in the last one year should be considered for participation in the Asian Games" in a letter to the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) and all of the National Sports Federations (NSFs).
India is presently ranked number 18 among nations affiliated with the Asian Football Confederation.
AIFF general secretary Shaji Prabhakaran expressed confidence that the squad would receive approval from the IOA while the AIFF stated that it will appeal to the Sports Ministry to review the decision.
"We'll go through the team's necessity to compete in the competition with them. We will cite our successes and the positive experiences our athletes will have at a competition like the Asian Games. They will definitely let us participate in the competition, Prabhakaran assured The Indian Express.
Due to the Indian football team's lack of a top-8 Asian ranking, the IOA had refused to allow it to compete in the 2018 Asian Games.
The Sports Ministry's instructions to the IOA and NSFs contain a clause that may give some relief to the AIFF. The clause reads, in part," Where, in the opinion of the experts of specific sports disciplines, and that of Sports Authority of India, participation of individualities and brigades in relaxation of the below criteria is recommended with maintainable reasons, the same will be considered in the Ministry for applicable decision."
