The Indian men's and women's football team have been given permission by the Sports Ministry to participate in the upcoming Asian Games 2023, set to be held in Hangzhou, China. Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur took to Twitter to give out this information. In his tweet, he mentioned that considering the recent performance of the Indian football team, the Sports Ministry has decided to make an exemption, allowing India to participate in the continental showpiece event, starting September 23.
As per the rules, for team events, only those in top-eight in the continent are qualified to participate in the 2023 Asian Games and India does not meet Sports Ministry's criteria of being ranked among top 8 teams. India is currently ranked 18th among the countries under the Asian Football Confederation.
"Good news for Indian football lovers! 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 teams, which were not qualifying as per the existing criterion. Keeping in mind their latest performances in the recent times, the Ministry decided to grant the relaxation. I am sure they will put their best foot forward in the Asian Games and make our country proud," Thakur tweeted.
Initially, the Sports Ministry had denied India permission to participate in Asian Games 2023 due to their poor rankings after which national senior team head coach Igor Stimac had written a letter to the Ministry, seeking their permission to allow both men's and women's teams to participate in the continental Games.
Since 2002, football in Asia Games has been an U-23 affair and all teams participating in the Asian Games can have players up to 23 years of age. Only three players in each team can be older than this.