New Delhi: In what could be perceived as a setback for Indian refereeing, no referee from India has been selected to supervise in the upcoming under-17 World Cup.

Apart from naming 21 trios of match officials for the tournament to be hosted by India, the Fifa has also for the first time named seven female officials as support referees.

However, one Indian, Gautam Kar, figures in the list of four match commissioners appointed for the tournament. This is for the first time that an Indian has been named by the Fifa as a match commissioner in a World Cup.

The Fifa, on Friday, officially released the names of the 21 sets of referees and only three sets are from Asian nations. They are from Singapore, Japan and Bahrain.

Till date, Komaleeswaran Shankar remains the only Indian to supervise in a world meet - under-16 World Cup. He also holds the distinction of being the only Indian to officiate in a senior World Cup as an assistant referee in 2002.

Fifa said that it is the first time that female referees were selected for men's tournament. "The results and improvements seen in the joint preparations have shown that the time has come for elite female referees to officiate in men's competitions together with their male colleagues," said Fifa in a statement.

Meanwhile, Kar, who is also the head of referees department in the AIFF, said he was not surprised by Fifa's decision to ignore Indian referees.

"The world body always has a plan. The current lot selected is definitely the most promising bunch in the world and would be developed by Fifa for bigger assignments in future," Kar said.