Kolkata: All India Football Federation (AIFF) Kalyan Chaubey has requested the Indian Sports ministry and the organizers of the Asian Games to allot accreditation to country’s three top footballers- striker Sunil Chhetri, defender Sandesh Jhingan and veteran goalkeeperGurpreet Singh Sandhu after their names were found missing in the list of 23-member Indian squad, which would take part in the Asiad, media report said on Saturday.
“When we (AIFF’s coaches, technical officials and support staff members and federation officials) had made a presentation to the sports ministry’s officials requesting for the football teams’ (men and women) clearance for the Asiad, we didn’t realise that their names (Sunil Chhetri, GP Sandhu and Sandesh Jhingan) were not in the original list of athletes sent to the organisers,” the AIFF president was quoted as saying.
Asiad’s men’s team tournament would feature U-23 players with three of them aged 23 or above allowed to play.
The women’s teams have no age bar in the tournament.
The AIFF had said India’s longstanding skipper Sunil Chhetri, who is also a prolific scorer, dependable stopper back Sandesh Jhingan and country’s number 1 goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh
Sandhu would be part of Team India squad in the Asiad.
“When I realised this (omission), being the head of the organisation, I took up the matter personally to ensure that their names were added so that they could get the accreditation,” the report quoted Chaubey as saying.
“Their names have been sent to the organisers. The people concerned who made the presentation to the ministry should have known about this. As the Federation president, I needed to interfere,” he reaffirmed.
The Indian men’s football team is slotted in Group A with hosts China, Bangladesh and Myanmar while the Women’s team will face Chinese Taipei and Thailand in Group B fixtures.
Team: Mens’ for the Asian Games 2023:
Anwar Ali, Gurmeet, Lalengmawia, Narender, Rahim Ali, Lalnuntluanga Bawitlung, Rohit Danu, Prabhsukhan Singh Gill, Aniket Anil Jadhav, Rahul Kannoly Praveen, Amarjit Singh Kiyam, Akash Mishra, Dheeraj Singh Moirangthem, Thoiba Singh Moirangthem, Mahesh Singh Naorem, Roshan Singh Naorem, Siva Sakthi Narayanan, Asish Rai, Vikram Pratap Singh, Deepak Tangri, Jeakson Singh Thounaojam, Suresh Singh Wangjam.
