AFI misses Asiad deadline; IOA asks for extension

BANGALORE: The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) has missed the deadline to submit the entries by name for next month's Asian Games, raising the prospects of the Incheon door being slammed on a few athletes named in the squad.
AFI termed the Federation Cup in Patiala (Aug 16-19) as its Asiad selection trials before announcing the team on August 20, five days after the deadline (Aug 15) for entry by name expired.
"Many federations had submitted their entries on time. In the case of athletics the Indian Olympic Association had asked for an extension. The organizers have seemingly accepted the request as we are yet to get any adverse communication from them," sources told TOI about the late entries forwarded to Incheon.
Last year, AFI was in the news for sending overage athletes to the Nanjing Youth Asian Games. The Games were meant for athletes born after January 1997 but the AFI included those who were born in 1996. Eighteen of them were sent back.
AFI secretary CK Valson is currently in Incheon for a technical delegates meeting and top coaches are hoping that he would be able to use his good offices to get all the selected Indian athletes in.
According to sources, AFI has submitted a tentative list of entries to the organizers but the worry is whether all the names finalized by the selection committee figure in it. "The organizers allow you to delete names. But they don't allow any addition to the list once it is submitted. It remains to be seen how AFI tackles this issue."
While calls to AFI president Adille J Sumariwala went unanswered, a selection committee member was shocked to hear the news. "I don't think that's the case," he said before hanging up.