The Indian men’s and women’s football teams are also set to compete at the upcoming Asian Games after getting the green-light from the Indian government.

Anurag Thakur, the Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports, took to Twitter on Wednesday to announce that government has decided to relax its rules to allow the men’s and women’s football teams to compete at the continental tournament.

The government had earlier blocked them from competing at the Asian Games citing a ‘selection criteria’. According to the government’s criteria, only those teams that have achieved a ranking up to 8th among participating countries in the last year would be considered for participation.

Igor Stimac, the men’s team coach, directly appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allow the teams to compete at the tournament. Simultaneously, AIFF top brass including Kalyan Chaubey and the secretary Shaji Prabhakaran also initiated whole-heartedly, convincing the Union sports minister that how much encouragement the under-23 boys will get if they are sent to the mega-event.

The football event at the Asian Games is an Under-23 event with teams allowed to field three overage players. In the case, captain Sunil Chhetri, defender Sandesh Jhingan and goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu are likely to be sent with the under-23 boys.

Incidentally, the referees' committee led-by the chairman Michel Andrews has been dissolved recently. It is learned that due to some controversy over making the referees' panel for the I-league and ISL this year, the committee has been dissolved. Chairman Michel Andrews refused to make any comment on the issue. While none among Chief Referring Officer Trevor Kettle, the AIFF secretary Shaji Prakaran and AIFF president Kalyan Chaubey could be contacted for their comments.