Reports: Indian paragliders write to IOA regarding last-gasp inclusion in Asian Games contingent

The Asian Games 2018 is fast approaching and given how controversial the selection has been for the athletes, which also involved significant changes in the contingent at the eleventh hour, such instances were more than expected. After IOA slashed the contingent size to 541 by removing most of the Pencak Silat athletes to make way for the Handball and Equestrian side, last-gasp inclusions looked a common scenario.

The Indian paragliders, who have written to the IOA seeking permission to be a part of the contingent, also seem to have similar expectations. According to TOI, officials from the Aero Club of India (ACI), which has been the governing body for aero-sports in the country and is also recognized as a Sports Federation by the Ministry of Civil Aviation, met with IOA secretary general Rajeev Mehta last week to discuss the issue at hand.

The ACI claimed it had submitted names of five Indian paragliders to the IOA along with a record of their performances, which included Gurpreet Dhindsa, Vijay Soni, Arvind Paul, Jyoti Thakur and Ajay Kumar – all of who have been proposed for the cross-country (XC) team event at the Games in Indonesia.

The paragliding event would make its debut at the Asian Games this year and the Indian gliders will join a long line of Indian athletes who have expressed their disappointment on being overlooked ver exclusion from the list of athletes. The list of Indian athletes to travel to Indonesia had already gone through various amendments since it was first released on July 3 that included an addition of a 24-member bridge squad and three sports climbing athletes.

However, ACI has been of the opinion that the case of paragliding is different from any other sport at the Asian Games as it was making its debut this year and hence was not considered to be an established sport as such. 

“Paragliding is not a popular or established sport in India. For the first time it’s been included in the Asian Games. We expected at least someone calling us up to understand where we stand in terms of players and medal prospects. But we were never contacted. We have met Rajeev Mehta. He said that the list is not final yet and the IOA will soon have a meeting to decide if any further additions need to be made,” a source in the ACI said to TOI.

However, IOA president Narinder Batra has denied the occurrence of any such meeting having taken place in the past week as he told TOI, "I am not aware of any such meeting took place.”