Why India should send football teams to Hangzhou

There has been a lot of talk in the last few days over the Indian football teams’ participation in the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China. While the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has already sent the names of the players to the Hangzhou Organizing Committee, it can’t be said if the teams will go based on the sports ministry’s guidelines: “For team events, only those sports which have achieved a ranking up to 8th among participating countries of Asia in the last one year should be considered for participation for the Asian Games.”

However, the same directive also stated that exceptions could be made if “…in the opinion of the experts… and that of the Sports Authority of India (SAI), participation of individuals and teams in relaxation of the above criteria is recommended with justifiable reasons, the same will be considered by the ministry for appropriate decisions.”

The exceptions clause has given the football teams hope. Here is why.

First, the fact that a clause for an exception is there means the ministry is open to making an exception if there are appropriate reasons for doing so. And there is enough in the Indian football story in the last one year that makes it an exceptional case.

The Indian men’s team has risen from 106 to 99 in the last few months. In fact, it is after five years that the men’s team is back in the top 100 of the FIFA rankings.

This means India will be in Pot 2 of the World Cup draw, to be held on 27 July, and get a much better draw than they have in the past. Second, probably for the first time, India have won three back-to-back tournaments in a matter of months — Tri-Nation Series in March, the Intercontinental Cup in June and the SAFF Championship in June-July. While they didn’t play any top 20 team in doing so, teams like Kuwait and Lebanon weren’t pushovers. (For the record, India had lost to Guam in 2015 and slipped to 161 in the rankings). Third, the players look the fittest they have ever been and have shown that they can play the whole game with high intensity. In the recent SAFF Championship semi-final and final, even when Kuwait and Lebanon seemed tired and resorted to time wasting, the Indians were relentless in attack at the end of the second period of extra time. India’s goal-scoring ability and positional play has shown remarkable improvement.

All these things point to a better future for the sport in India. It is also to be remembered that multi-discipline games are valued highly in India. A Commonwealth Games gold medal win is celebrated much more than a win in the Super 1000 series in badminton. If the teams are allowed to participate in the Asian Games, there will be huge interest in India and it can only augur well for football going forward.

India will get to play better and higher-ranked sides, and as skipper Sunil Chhetri said, “You can only improve if you play higher and better ranked teams.”

With the Asian Games in SeptemberOctober, the opportunity to play better teams can go a long way to getting the team ready for the Asian Cup in January next year. At the Asian Games, football is an U-23 tournament with the teams allowed to include three senior players. For the U-23 players, exposure in Hangzhou will help them deal with the pressures of international events and be ready to play at the highest level.

One of the main reasons why the team hasn’t risen higher in the rankings is that the Indian national team hardly plays games except in the FIFA windows. Coach Igor Stimac made this point soon after the SAFF win and asked the AIFF for more time with the national team to help improve further. In the absence of an adequate number of games, the players can be blamed for lower ranking.

A sevenspot jump in eight months isn’t a bad effort. While not taking anything away from any other sport, the truth is no other sport has shown the same improvement as football and that’s what makes football an exceptional case for the Asian Games.

India had sent a 570-member contingent to the 2018 Asian Games. The squad ended up winning 70 medals. So, more than two-thirds of the contingent did not win medals. Does that mean they shouldn’t have been sent?

Abhinav Bindra, one of India’s greatest-ever athletes, always says, “Sport teaches you how to lose and that’s how you get better. In sport you will lose far more than you will win.” Bindra did not win in Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004. Should he not have participated in Beijing 2008?

In sum, the Indian football teams should be sent for the Asian Games. While no one expects them to win a medal, it will be a huge exposure for the boys and girls and get them ready for more important challenges in the future. With just days left to make a final decision, one hopes that the IOA infighting between the president and the joint secretary will not come in the way of the best interests of the sport.