Asian Games participation will give Indian soccer an enormous increase: AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey

By India Today Sports Desk: All India Football Federation (AIFF) chief Kalyan Chaubey reckons that the return of Indian soccer groups to the Asian Games for the primary time in 9 years will improve gamers’ confidence.

The Sports Ministry paved the way in which for India’s males’s and girls’s soccer groups to compete within the continental occasion on Wednesday by decreasing its choice requirements. Chaubey described it as a big day for the nation’s sport.

“It’s indeed an important day for Indian Football and a testament to our resolution to develop the sport in India,” an elated Chaubey mentioned, reacting to the event.

The Blue Tigers, led by Sunil Chhetri, not too long ago gained the Intercontinental Cup and the SAFF Championships.

“Indian football has been on an unprecedented rise recently, and I believe this impetus will further boost our players’ morale in all upcoming events,” Chaubey mentioned.

“It’s my honour to represent the AIFF and with moments like this, it further encourages our steadfast commitment to continue developing the ecosystem in the country.”

“We thank the Government of India and the Ministry of Sports & Youth Affairs for their support and for providing special compensation to Indian Football for the 19th Asian Games.”

The Sports Ministry, in a letter despatched to the IOA and all National Sports Federations (NSFs), said that “for team events, only sports that have achieved a ranking of up to eighth among participating countries of Asia in the last one year should be considered for participation in Asian Games.”

The males’s staff is now ranked 18th in Asia, whereas the ladies’s staff is ranked eleventh, each of that are far beneath the top-eight requirement for participation within the Asian Games final yr.

The India males’s staff head coach, Igor Stimac, then requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s involvement, whereas the AIFF additionally requested that the foundations be relaxed.

“It’s a great day for Indian football and an enormously encouraging decision by the honourable Sports Minister Anurag Thakur ji and our government!” Stimac mentioned.

“Big thanks to all of them for allowing us the opportunity to challenge the best teams in the Asian Games.”

AIFF Secretary General, Dr Shaji Prabhakaran mentioned: “It is very encouraging for Indian Football that the Government has allowed the participation of men’s and women’s football teams in the Asian Games.

“This decision of the MYAS has further encouraged all our stakeholders, and with the game time at Asian Games, our players will gain tremendous exposure playing against some of the giants in Asian football.

“We will continue to work hard with a focus to deliver success on and off the pitch and reach our goals as per Strategic Roadmap Vision 2047.”

The Indian males’s staff gained gold within the inaugural occasion in New Delhi in 1951, after which once more in Jakarta in 1962. Their final medal on the occasion occurred in 1970 in Bangkok, they usually have but to make the rostrum within the continental extravaganza since then. In its earlier two outings, the ladies’s staff completed eighth in Bangkok in 1998 and ninth in Incheon in 2014.