The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has said it would not be sending both India’s men’s and women’s teams for the upcoming Asian Games in September. The Asian Games, set to be hosted by Hangzhou in China, will not see India’s participation despite calls from the other associations to make cricket a global sport. While International Cricket Council (ICC) is pushing to include Cricket in the Olympics, BCCI’s stand to not take part in an international event has left plenty of unanswered questions.
Why is BCCI against sending Indian teams to Asian Games?
The Games were originally scheduled to take place from 10 to 25 September 2022; the event was postponed to 2023 on 6 May 2022 due to concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic in China, amid the potential threat of new variants. The BCCI has said that they have prior commitments to fulfill and also have Asia Cup to deal with before they prepare to host the ODI World Cup.
The Asian Games are set to start on 23 September and will end on 8 October, coinciding with the World Cup. The ODI World Cup is likely to start on October 5, thus not allowing a sufficient gap for the players to recover and play in the main tournament. With a tight schedule to deal with, BCCI is unlikely to send its team to the Asian Games.
“We have entries in all sports except one – cricket (team) isn’t going,” India’s chef de mission for the Asian Games, Bhupender Bajwa, told The Indian Express.
“They said they are preoccupied. We sent 3-4 emails to them but when we had to send entries to the organisers, they said they won’t go.”
A BCCI official confirmed the development but added that they received the email from the Indian Olympic Association just ‘one day before the deadline’.
“We had received the mail from IOA just one day before the deadline. At the same time, the BCCI already has finalised the FTP for women’s cricket. During the Asian Games, our team won’t be available as they will be playing in a tournament,” the BCCI official said.
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