India on Tuesday pulled out of the hockey competition for next year’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham due to concerns over Covid-19 and Britain’s discriminatory quarantine rules towards travelers from the country. England had also pulled out of the Junior Men’s World Cup to be held in Bhubaneswar a day earlier, citing the same reasons. Hockey India President Gyanendro Ningobam has conveyed the federation’s decision to Indian Olympic Association (IOA) President Narinder Batra.
Hockey India has said that there is only 32 days gap between Birmingham Commonwealth Games 2022 (July 28 to August 8) and Hangzhou Asian Games (September 10 to 25) and they do not want to take the risk by sending their players to the UK. , which has been among the countries most affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
Ningobam wrote, “The Asian Games 2024 is a continental qualification event for the Paris Olympic Games and keeping in mind the priority of the Asian Games, Hockey India cannot risk any player from Indian teams contracting Covid-19 during the Commonwealth Games.” “
“Hence, Hockey India will not send its men’s and women’s teams for the Commonwealth Games 2022 and you are being informed in time to inform the organizers to identify the reserve teams,” he said.
Britain recently refused to recognize India’s Covid-19 vaccination certificate and has made mandatory 10-day strict isolation for travelers coming from the country, despite their full vaccination.
The discrimination has been highlighted prominently in a letter sent to the IOA president, Ningobam, who has directed the reserve teams to coordinate with the sport’s global governing body. Batra is also the president of FIH.
“Such discriminatory restrictions were not applicable to Indian sportspersons and officials even during the recently held Tokyo Olympic Games and their performance would be affected by the 10-day quarantine for players who had been vaccinated,” Ningobam wrote.
“We think these restrictions are discriminatory against India and quite unfortunate,” he said.
Hockey India took this step a day after England pulled out of next month’s FIH Men’s Junior World Cup in Bhubaneswar, citing concerns over Covid-19 and the Indian government’s mandatory 10-day quarantine for all UK citizens. Is. After the British restrictions, India also imposed similar restrictions on British citizens coming to the country.
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