Chhetri, Sandhu & Jhingan’s names not in list sent for Asian Games; AIFF prez says organisers have been requested to give them accreditation | Football News

NEW DELHI: Indian football’s talismanic captain Sunil Chhetri, goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and centre-back Sandesh Jhingan‘s names are missing from the country’s official list of athletes for the upcoming Asian Games in China’s Hangzhou, TOI has reliably learnt.

In the men’s football competition at the Games, a country has to field its U-23 team, but three players in the squad can be 23 years and above. For women, there is no age restriction.
All India Football Federation (AIFF) president Kalyan Chaubey, who is also the Indian Olympic Association’s (IOA) joint secretary and acting CEO, had, in recent interviews to media publications, said that Chhetri, goalkeeper Sandhu and Jhingan will be the three over 23-year-old players in the squad. He also said that Chhetri would be the captain.

However, TOI can confirm that the trio’s names are not in the list of athletes shared with the organisers of the Asiad, scheduled to be held from September 23 to October 8. The cut-off date to send the list was July 15.
In the list, the men’s football contingent has a total of 22 players.

It’s been learnt that IOA and Chaubey have personally requested the Asiad organisers to provide ‘accreditation’ as a ‘special case’ to these players. A letter to this effect has been sent to the organisers.
However, two questions arise here: 1) Why were the names of these three players missing from the list of athletes when the IOA/AIFF had intended to send them for the Asiad? 2) If the three were not in the IOA/AIFF’s original scheme of things, then why has a request been made to the Asiad organisers to provide them accreditation?
According to sources, the three senior players were unsure earlier about going to Asiad but changed their minds later.
When contacted, Chaubey admitted that their names weren’t sent to the organisers by the July 15 deadline and that a request has now been made to provide them accreditation. “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 (Chhetri, Sandhu and Jhingan) were not in the original list of athletes sent to the organisers,” Chaubey said.
“When I realised this (omission), being the head of the organisation (AIFF), I took up the matter personally to ensure that their names were added so that they could get the accreditation. 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 added.
The participation of the men’s and women’s football sides in the Asiad was earlier in doubt as per the sports ministry’s criteria of sending teams which are ranked in top-8 in the continent. Later, the ministry cleared the two teams at full cost to the government.
Indian men’s football team for Asian Games: 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.