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Asian Games: Are Sandesh Jhingan, Gurpreet Singh Sandhu part of Indian football squad? Fans demand clear answer
The Sports Ministry revealed a list of players on Thursday, but it's quite different from the one the All India Football Federation (AIFF).
Karen Noronha
Sep 16, 2023
Asian Games
There's a lot of confusion surrounding India's men's football team which is to be beaded for the Asian Games in 2023. It's causing a lot of uncertainty, especially since their first game is only five days away. With fans seeing two squads being released, they are questioning the governing bodies to disclose the team which will actually represent the Blue Tigers in Hangzhou, China.
The Sports Ministry revealed a list of players on Thursday, but it's quite different from the one the All India Football Federation (AIFF) shared just a day earlier. The Ministry kept most of the same players that the AIFF announced in August, but they made six changes.
Notably, some players like Sandesh Jhingan and Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, who were left out of the AIFF's updated list, are back in the Ministry's version. The AIFF had to change their original list of players because some Indian Super League (ISL) clubs did not release their players to participate in this tournament.
On Wednesday, they released a new list with 13 changes from the one they first announced on August 1. But now, the Ministry's list is quite different from the AIFF's. It also says that Igor Stimac is the head coach of the men's team.
According to reports from Sportstar, the ISL club FC Goa said they did not know about these new developments.
India is supposed to play their first game against China on September 19, and then they have matches against Bangladesh and Myanmar on September 21 and 24. So, things are still uncertain and confusing.
August 1 Squad: (released by AIFF)
Goalkeepers: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Gurmeet Singh, Dheeraj Singh Moirangthem.
Defenders: Sandesh Jhingan, Anwar Ali, Narender Gahlot, Lalchungnunga, Akash Mishra, Roshan Singh, Ashish Rai.
Midfielders: Jeakson Singh Thounaojam, Suresh Singh Wangjam, Apuia Ralte, Amarjit Singh Kiyam, Rahul KP, Naorem Mahesh Singh.
Forwards: Siva Sakthi Narayanan, Rahim Ali, Aniket Jadhav, Vikram Partap Singh, Rohit Danu, Sunil Chhetri.
September 14 squad: (revised list by AIFF)
Goalkeepers: Gurmeet Singh, Vishal Yadav
Defenders: Sumit Rathi, Narender Gahlot, Deepak Tangri
Midfielders: Amarjit Singh Kiyam, Samuel James, Rahul KP, Ayush Dev Chhetri
Forwards: Rahim Ali, Vincy Barretto, Sunil Chhetri, Liston Colaco, Gurkirat Singh, Aniket Jadhav, Bryce Miranda, Abdul Rabeeh Anjukandan, Azfar Noorani
September 15 squad: (released by Sports Ministry)
Goalkeeper: Gurpreet Singh Sandhu, Gurmeet Singh, Vishal Yadav
Defenders: Anwar Ali, Narender Gahlot, Sandesh Jhingan, Akash Mishra, Lalchungnunga
Midfielders: Ayush Dev Chhetri, Amarjit Singh Kiyam, Mahesh Singh Naorem, Abdul Rabeeh, Samuel James, Jeakson Singh, Suresh Singh
Forwards: Rahim Ali, Aniket Jadhav, Rahul KP, Liston Colaco, Sunil Chhetri, Vincy Barretto, Vikram Pratap Singh
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