Hockey India has announced that Indian Hockey teams will not participate in the Commonwealth Games at Birmingham in the United Kingdom due to the ongoing Covid-19 situation and focus on the Asian Games instead. In a statement, Hockey India remarked that UK has been the worst affected country in Europe during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Hockey India said in a statement, “As you aware that the Commonwealth Games are schedule in Birmingham, England from 28 July to 08 August 2022 and the Asian Games are schedules in Hangzhou, China from 10 to 25 September 2022. There is an only a 32 day window between the conclusions of the Commonwealth Games before the start of the Asian Games. You will also appreciate the Asian Games is the continental qualification event for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games and keeping the priority of the Asian Games in mind, Hockey India cannot take a risk for any members of the Indian Teams contracting COVID-19 during the above the Commonwealth Games (sic).”
“It is pertinent to mention that due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation, England have issued guidelines that 10 days quarantine is required Indians arrivals in England even for those who are fully vaccinated, since unfortunately the Indian vaccinations are not yet recognized by the English government. Such discriminatory restrictions were not imposed on Indian athletes and officials during the recent Tokyo Olympic Games and this 10 days quarantine requirement for vaccinated sports persons will affect their performances. We feel these restrictions are biased against India and term it as very unfortunate (sic),” the statement added.
Consequently, Hockey India has requested that reserve teams be identified for the Commonwealth Games. Earlier, India had imposed reciprocal measures on traveler from the United Kingdom in response to UK’s refusal to recognise Indian vaccine certificates. After the measures were imposed, visitors from UK will need to quarantine themselves for 10 days and subject themselves to RT-PCR tests after arriving in India.
