Asian Games: Sports ministry rejects all four nominations for breakdancing

No Indian will be participating in breakdancing at the Asian Games in Hangzhou after the sports ministry refused to approve the four-member contingent for not meeting the selection criteria.

Breakdancing will make its debut at the Asiad as a medal event after the International Olympic Committee granted it Olympic sport status. Breakdancing is one of the 32 sports that will also be part of the Paris 2024 Olympics roaster.

Breakdance Federation of India (BDFI) had nominated two men - Arif Iqbal Chaudhary and Eshwar Tiwari, and two women - Johanna Antonia Rodrigues and Siddhi Sumedh for the Asian Games in China.

Ministry rejects nominations

However, the ministry rejected the nominations for not matching its ranking framework, reported the Times of India.

"In men's individual, Arif is ranked 16 in Asia which was manually calculated from the world rankings maintained by World Dance Sport Federation (WSDF)," the ministry stated.

"Eshwar has no ranking because he didn't compete in any ranking tournaments. Arif has 100 points from the BFG World Series (Feb 2023) which would place him 32nd if compared with the Asian Championship results. Eshwar has no points at all. Based on these facts, they are unlikely to make it to the top 10 in Asia," it added.

About the women's individual events, the ministry noted, "In women's individual rankings, Johanna and Siddhi are ranked 12th and 21st in Asia respectively, which were manually calculated from the world rankings and, as per the maximum entry from a country, they are ranked 9th and 16th, respectively."

The ministry further said, "Neither of them competed in the recent Asian Championships in Hangzhou. Based on their performance in the BFG World Series (Feb 2023), where Johanna earned 100 points and Siddhi earned 50 points, they would rank 32nd and 45th, respectively, if they had participated in the Asian Championships. Given these facts, it is unlikely that they would make it to the top 10. Therefore, they are not recommended."

15 names excluded from the athletics contingent

Meanwhile, the ministry excluded 15 names from the Athletics Federation of India's proposed 81 names, allowing India to send a 66-member contingent.

The excluded athletes are Balkishan (men's 3000m steeplechase), Priti (women's 3000m steeplechase), Bhawana Jat (women's 20m racewalk), Seema (women's 10000m), Gurindervir Singh, Harjit Singh, Sivakumar Balakrishnan, Lalu Prasad Bhoi, Amiya Kumar Mallick and Elakkiya Dasan (all part of men's 4x100m relay team) and Srabani Nanda, Vijaya Kumari, Nithya Gandhe, Bhavani Bhagavathi and Himashree Roy (all part of women's 4x100m relay squad).

Likewise, eight out of 12 judo players were not considered. Avtar Singh (-100kg), Garima Choudhary (-70kg), Indubala Devi (-78kg) and Tulika Maan (+78kg) will reprsent India.

In shooting, women's shotgun shooters Manisha Keer and Preeti Rajak's nominations were not approved, with only Rajeshwari Kumari making the cut. In men's shotgun skeet, Angad Vir Singh Bajwa was included in a three-member contingent along with Anantjeet Singh Naruka and Gurjoat Singh Khangura.