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 it’s rules to allow the men’s and women’s football teams to compete at the continental tournament.

Even though the All India Football Federation had submitted the men’s and women’s football teams, the government had earlier blocked them from competing at the Asiad 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, had directly appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to allow the teams to compete at the tournament. The men’s team had enjoyed a successful summer winning the Intercontinental Cup and the SAFF Championship.

The football event at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China is an Under-23 event with teams allowed to field three overage players. India are likely to select captain Sunil Chhetri, defender Sandesh Jhingan and goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu as their three overage players.