Guwahati, Nov. 15: The Assam men’s football team will not be seen in action at the Hyderabad National Games, starting December 13.
The Assam Football Association’s belated fight for the state football team’s inclusion has come to nought. The Indian Olympic Association and the organisers have categorically told Assam’s chef-de-mission Tayabun Nisha that they have no say in the nomination or selection of teams by the respective national federations and associations.
Nisha’s brief from the Assam Olympic Association was to make a strong case with help from AOA adviser C.M. Muthiah to help gain a berth. It has been alleged that the Assam team was denied a berth by the All-India Football Federation. Nisha returned from Hyderabad yesterday where she attended a meeting of chef-de-mission on November 11.
With both the IOA and the organising committee washing their hands of the issue, there is very little the AOA or the AFA can do at this late stage.
The AIFF had, in a communiqué to the state body recently, made it clear that it would no longer entertain any correspondence on the nomination issue.
To rub it in, the AIFF has even said that the AFA was free to do whatever it felt right and wise, claiming they had been transparent about the nomination process.
From her interactions with IOA members and the organising committee, Nisha could “understand” that the AFA or the AOA needed to take up the matter directly with the AIFF.
“IOA president Suresh Kalmadi said only teams nominated by the parent bodies are accommodated in the games and there was very little the IOA or the organisers could do in such matters. It is now up to the respective federations to decide, in this case the AIFF,” Nisha told The Telegraph here today.
The AIFF has asserted that the nomination of the teams was done in consultation with the IOA and the games organisers. The eight teams, which will take to the field are Kerala, Goa, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Services, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.
The criteria for selection, according to AIFF secretary Alberto Colaco, was the first fourth-place finish at the Mumbai nationals and the Punjab National Games.
Hosts Andhra Pradesh came in place of Goa while West Bengal made it in place of the Railways on the strength of its “past performance” even though the two teams had not met the AIFF criteria.
Explaining the procedure for nominations, Colaco had told The Telegraph that since there were 12 quarterfinalists at Mumbai and the AIFF could nominate only seven teams (Andhra Pradesh as the hosts would automatically qualify), it decided to settle for the semi-finalists of both the Santosh Trophy and Punjab National Games.
