NEW DELHI: The non-inclusion of senior team players in the Indian football contingent for the Asian Games and a lack of clarity on whether clubs would release players for the Games were the two primary reasons, apart from the government's selection criteria, why Sports Authority of India (SAI) initially refused to sanction the men's squad for the September 23 to October 8 event in Hangzhou.
A two-page document in possession of TOI reveals the backchannel talks that happened between SAI and All India Football Federation's (AIFF) officials after the latter erred in not sending the names of national team skipper Sunil Chhetri, goalkeeper Gurpreet Singh Sandhu and centre-back Sandesh Jhingan to the organisers of the Games before the July 15 deadline.
