Sunil Chhetri, Jhinghan-Sandhu Not Included in Asian Games Roster; AIFF President Urges Accreditation

Indian football team captain Sunil Chhetri, Sandesh Jhinghan and Gurpreet Singh Sandhu were expected to be a part of the Asian Games roster after the Sports Ministry gave the green light to the participation of the men’s and women’s football teams for the Hangzhou spectacle. However, according to a recent report, the names of Chhetri, Sandhu and Jhinghan are missing from the list sent to the Asian Games organizers.

According to the rules of the Asian Games, a country has to send their U-23 team for the men’s competition, however, there can be an exception of three players above 23 who can be a part of the squad. It has been widely expected that Chhetri would lead the Indian team in Asian Games, with centre-back Jhinghan and goalie Gurpreet joining him on the flight to Hangzhou, however, as per a report in Times of India, the names of the trio are missing from the list sent to the organizers.

The Asiad games are scheduled to be hosted in China, a year later than originally planned due to the Covid situation. Given the drama surrounding the Sports Ministry’s decision to not send Indian football teams to the Asian Games, only for the decision to be overruled later, a list of 22 players has been sent to the organizers although the cut-off date for the same was July 15.

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AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey has requested the Asian Games organisers to provide ‘accreditation’ to the trio. A letter regarding the same has been sent to the Asiad organisers committee, adds the report.

Chaubey admitted that the names of Chhetri, Jhinghan and Gurpreet were not present in the list of players when the AIFF had a meeting with Sports ministry officials, once the supremo came to know about the omission, he personally raised the matter to the organizers.

Here’s the list of players for Asian Games: Gurmeet Singh (HFC), Prabhsukhan Gill (EBFC), Dheeraj Singh (FCG); Anwar Ali (MBSG), Narender Gahlot (OFC), Akash Mishra (MCFC), Roshan Singh (BFC), Asish Rai (MBSG); Apuia (MCFC), Lalnuntluanga (RKFC), Amarjit (PFC), M Thoiba (OFC), Deepak (MBSG), Jeakson (KBFC), Suresh (BFC); Rahim Ali (CFC), Rohit Danu (BFC), Aniket Jadhav (OFC), Rahul KP (KBFC), Mahesh (EBFC), Sivasakthi (BFC), Vikram (MCFC).