Indian Football For Asian Games: It's official! Both men's & women's teams cleared by govt
THE INDIAN FOOTBALL TEAMS will ultimately get to participate in the upcoming Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.
Both the men's and women's teams, who were both barred from participating in Asian Games 2018 by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) have been cleared to take part this time.
The news comes after weeks of agitation online by Indian football fans who demanded that the IOA and the Union Sports Ministry should relax their "medal prospect" policy that was blocking India's participation in Asian Games football tournaments; given how beneficial the high quality competitions are for the teams ahead of crucial tournaments scheduled throughout the 2023-24 season.
The AIFF top brass, including President Kalyan Chaubey (also joint secretary of IOA) have been trying hard to get the government to agree to this. Even Indian men's team head coach Igor Stimac took the unusual step of making a public appeal to the Indian government on this matter.
Recently there were reports that the Indian men's team (U-23 plus 3 senior players) would be allowed to participate but there was no word on the women's team yet. But today, sports minister Anurag Thakur took to Twitter to announce that both men's and women's football teams will be able to participate in the Asian Games.
Good news for Indian football lovers!
— Anurag Thakur (@ianuragthakur) July 26, 2023
Our national football teams, both Men’s and Women’s, are set to participate in the upcoming Asian Games.
The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India, has decided to relax the rules to facilitate participation of both the…
The decision was warmly welcomed by Indian football fans and officials; including head coach Igor Stimac himself.
It’s a great day for #Indianfootball, an enormously encouraging decision by the ministry of sports, honourable sport minister @ianuragthakur and our government!
— Igor Štimac (@stimac_igor) July 26, 2023
Big thanks to them for recognising our recent results and making it possible to challenge ourselves at the Asian Games pic.twitter.com/DOILlIzQCX
Happy to inform that Ministry of Sports & Youth Affairs,& IOA have confirmed @indianfootball’s participation at #AsianGames
— Kalyan Chaubey (@kalyanchaubey) July 26, 2023
I thank Sh @narendramodi sir Sh @ianuragthakur ji & GoI for their support
Equally important to our fans for your resolute for #IndianFootball https://t.co/r0ntVMNGzf
The power of the people > The people in Power #InquilabEIndianFootball #WeAreIndia https://t.co/kzCZMuPluU
— Blue Pilgrims (@BluePilgrims) July 26, 2023
The Asian Games 2022 (being held in 2023 due to COVID-19) will kick off on 23rd September. Following that, the Indian men's team will play in the Merdeka Tournament, FIFA World Cup Qualifiers and the AFC Asian Cup. For the women's team, the next major competition is the second round of the Olympic Qualifiers.
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