NEW DELHI: The All India Football Federation on Sunday termed the decision of the Narinder Batra-led Indian Olympic Association to deny permission to the men's and women's national teams to particpate in the upcoming upcoming Asian Games in Indonesia as indicative that the IOA lacked both "vision and competence".
"It's clear the IOA lacks the vision and competence to understand that football is a global sport played by 212 countries and that the top 5 teams in Asia play in the FIFA World Cup where the level of competition is far superior to the Asian Games," the AIFF said in a statement.
Buttressing its point, the AIFF further stated: "IOA’s stance and myopic view comes in sharp contrast to the support of both the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and Sports Authority of India, both of whom who have been hugely supportive of Indian football and recognised AIFF’s efforts in the last 3 years.
"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."
This will be the first time in 24 years (since the 1994 Hiroshima edition) that an Indian team will not take part in the football competition of the Asian Games, which is an U-23 event with three over-age players being allowed.
As per IOA regulations, only those national teams which are ranked between 1-8 at the continental level, have been cleared for the Games.
Accordingly, 'Blue Tigers', who are currently ranked 14 in Asia were denied an opportunity despite a string of good performances in international matches of late.
India have qualified for the marquee Asian Cup after a gap of eight years, having last played 2011, PTI reports.
While there's little doubt that India would not be competing for a medal at the tournament, the decision to withdraw was particularly jarring considering they will be competing in the 2019 AFC Cup and would have been hoping to get some match experience against Asia's strongest teams heading into that competition, ESPN reports. The Asian Games is a U-23 competition and 11 players in the current Indian roster are in that age group.
India were due to be drawn in Pot 4 of the draw, which would have meant there was a good chance they would have been drawn against at least one of United Arab Emirates, Thailand or Bahrain, the three teams they are grouped alongside in the Asian Cup next January.
It bears noting that AIFF president Praful Patel had called up Batra, secretary-general Rajeev Mehta and the tainted Lalit Bhanot (chairman, preparation committee, Asian Games) explaining to them the circumstances and also sent letters but to no avail.
AIFF statement in full:
Despite explaining to the Indian Olympic Association that Football as a global sport needs to be looked at differently, and after having explained the tremendous success that Indian football has achieved in the last three years, which include a jump in FIFA Rankings from 173 to 97 (at present), qualification to the AFC Asian Cup UAE 2019, the successful hosting of FIFA U-17 World Cup India 2017 and the various grassroots and youth developmental programmes undertaken by the AIFF, the IOA chose not to clear Indian Football Teams for the forthcoming Asian Games.
In this regard Praful Patel, president, AIFF even made a call to Narinder Batra to explain the circumstances, and accordingly letters were sent to Rajeev Mehta, secretary general, IOA and Lalit Bhanot, chairman, preparation committee, Asian Games.
However, disregarding all facts, the IOA chose to stick to its original stance of sending teams ranked between 1-8 to take part, thus turning a blind eye to Indian football in the continental games.
It’s clear the IOA lacks the vision and competence to understand that football is a global sport played by 212 countries and that the top 5 teams in Asia play in the FIFA World Cup where the level of competition is far superior to the Asian Games.
In fact, the premier football competition in Asia is the AFC Asian Cup where India has qualified after 8 years.
IOA’s stance and myopic view comes in sharp contrast to the support of both the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports and Sports Authority of India, both of whom who have been hugely supportive of Indian football and recognised AIFF’s efforts in the last 3 years.
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.
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