India to play in 2022 Commonwealth Games hockey events

OLYMPIC bronze-winners India has reversed its decision to not take part in the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, the UK, next year and will play in the quadrennial sporting event “if they qualify”, a Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) official told Press Trust of India on Saturday (4).

Earlier this year, Hockey India announced that it would not send teams – men and women – to the Commonwealth Games, citing Covid-19-related concerns and the short gap between the Birmingham Games and the Hangzhou Asian Games, a qualifier for the 2024 Paris Olympics where India is aiming to do better after their impressive show in Tokyo earlier this year.

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However, India’s decision to send its teams to Birmingham came following the intervention of Indian Olympic Association (IOA) chief Narinder Batra and the country’s sports minister Anurag Thakur, who had criticised the decision to not send teams to the Games without consulting the Indian government.

Both Batra and Thakur guaranteed India’s participation in the Commonwealth hockey events, provided the country qualifies.

India have won two silver medals at the Commonwealth Games in the men’s section and finished fourth in the last edition held in Australia in 2018. The women’s team has won the gold once in the tournament which was in England in 2002.

The Birmingham Games are scheduled to kick off on July 28 and will go till August 8 while the Asian Games will begin on September 10.

“No team has been offered a place yet but the IOA have said to CGF President they (IOA) will accept if the teams qualify which is highly likely,” the CGF official told PTI.

“Indian sports minister has been involved I understand and he has been influential. The CGF President (Dame Louis Martin) has been in close dialogue with IOA president.”

Asked if the development means Indian hockey teams will be part of the Birmingham Games, he said, “Yes, that would be correct, if they (the teams) qualify.”

The list of qualified nations for the Birmingham hockey tournament has not yet been announced and is set to be made official in February.

The CGF official added that discussions are underway between CGF and IOA on the Queens Baton Relay, which is scheduled to be held in India between January 12 to 15.