Sunil Chhetri was named in Indian football team for the upcoming 2022 Asian Games in Hangzhou in a revised squad announced by the All India Football Federation on Wednesday.
This development comes after days of speculations on whether the Indian Super League clubs would release their top players for the continental games, which falls outside the Fifa window.
On the other hand, goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and defender Sandesh Jhingan won’t be of the Indian team for the event in China.
Football, at the Asian Games, is an U-23 affair with three players over age limit allowed to be a part of the squad.
“It has been a hectic time for Indian football season this time. We have a tight schedule within a short period of time that was not easy to manage,” said AIFF President Kalyan Chaubey.
“There have been too many things happening, both at the domestic and the international level, involving India’s National Teams, as well as the ISL clubs. While the Senior National Men’s Team successfully completed playing a series of matches, they are also awaiting to play the Asian Games, followed by Merdeka Cup, World Cup Qualifiers, and the AFC Asian Cup,” he added.
The 2022 Asian Games will mark the return of the Indian football team in the competition after a nine-year hiatus.
India will start its Asian Games campaign on September 19 against hosts China.
Squad: Gurmeet Singh, Dheeraj Singh Moirangthem, Sumit Rathi, Narender Gahlot, Amarjit Singh Kiyam, Samuel James, Rahul KP, Abdul Rabeeh Anjukandan, Ayush Dev Chhetri, Bryce Miranda, Azfar Noorani, Rahim Ali, Vincy Bareto, Sunil Chhetri, Rohit Danu, Gurkirat Singh, Aniket Jadhav.
