Asian Games 2018: IOA meeting today to discuss Asiad entries

What's the story?

The Indian Olympic Association will meet today, July 20, in order to discuss India's official entries for the 2018 Asian Games. The association will possibly be re-evaluating the entries with the possibility of adding a few other names to the list.

In case you didn't know...

2018 will bring about the 18th edition of the pan-Asian multi-sport event. This time, the Asian Games will be held in the cities of Jakarta and Palembang, in Indonesia.

India had initially named a strong contingent of over five hundred members. However, since then, there have been some cuts and additions to the roster.

The heart of the matter

IOA will convene a meeting today, July 20, in a bid to reassess certain candidates and possibly include their name on the Asian Games roster.

India's primary Olympic Association had courted controversy initially after they refused to send the football teams to Jakarta. The reasoning given by the IOA did not help their case as well, as they claimed the reason for not sending the teams is due to no possibility of a medal in that sport.

Moreover, IOA had withdrawn twenty names from Pencak Silat as well. However, this decision cost IOA dearly as the Pencak Silat Federation took them to the court. A similar situation had taken place with Handball, as well.

After assessing the complaints of AIFF and other federations, the Sports Ministry has urged IOA to relax certain norms. Today's meeting is being regarding the same.

What's next?

Although Football seems to be on the agenda for today's meeting, it is unlikely that the sport will get clearance from IOA. The fact that the draws have been made for the Asian Games reduces the chances of football teams going to Asiad even further.

However, there still might be a chance for certain other sports and sportspersons to get the clearance for taking part in the Asian Games.