Asian Games | Indian men's handball team in main draw despite not fulfilling qualification criteria

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The Indian men's handball team has made it to the main draw of the Asian Games despite not having fulfilled the criteria for qualification in the tournament. It has been assumed that the IOA’s treasurer Anandeshwar Pandey has a hand in getting the team pass through the backdoor entry.

Indian men's Handball team has made it to the main draw of Asian Games despite not fulfilling the criteria for qualification in the Asian Games. The assumption has been drawn that the IOA’s treasurer Anandeshwar Pandey has taken the liberty of pulling some strings to get the team a place in the tournament going to be held at Jakarta-Palembang.

Secretary of the Handball Federation of India along with IOA’s treasurer, Pandey has used his influence in the Asian Handball Federation to get the team a place in the Group ‘D’ of the Asiad draw, which has Bahrain, Chinese Taipei and Iraq as well after five teams ranked higher in the strata withdrew from the Games.

Though IOA has withheld their approval of the team, Pandey still insisted on accommodating the team in the Indian Contingent. However, the IOA has considered dropping 10 names from 22 member pencak silat squad to make room for other categories that gives hope to the handball team.

An IOA official cleared that the association was not informed of Pandey’s intentions of getting the handball team in the main draw but they certainly couldn't raise objections as the team is already in the main draw. Pandey's threat of revolting against President Narinder Batra and co is assumed to have influenced this development.

“The teams from Australia, Uzbekistan, China, Oman and UAE are not participating in the Asian Games. So, the Indian men's handball team has qualified. The team is already included in the draw ceremony and matches scheduled to play,” read the letter from AHF.

The men's handball team was ranked 12th out of 14 teams in the qualifications. In the Incheon Asian Games, 2014 they occupied the last position out of the 14 teams, and as the criteria for selection in IOA is top six for individuals and top 8 for team events, they lay far behind.

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