Asian Games 2023: Indian Breakdancing members denied clearance by Ministry

Breakdancing, along with E-sports, has been introduced as a medal event by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).

Breakdancing

Breakdancing is set to debut as one of the new events at the upcoming Asian Games 2023 in Hangzhou, China. However, India will not be represented in this sport as the sports ministry has declined to approve the four-member contingent. It is said that the dancers did not meet the required criteria to qualify for the Games.

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

For the men's individual entries, both Arif and Eshwar's submissions were rejected by the sports ministry. Arif held the 16th rank in Asia, while Eshwar had not participated in any ranking tournaments at all.

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

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Among the Women's individual entries, the sports ministry stated that both Johanna and Siddhi would not make it to the top 10 in Asia.

"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.

"Neither of them competed in the recent Asian Championships in Hangzhou. Based on their performance in the BFG World Series 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," the ministry further noted.

Apart from them, some of the other athletes have also failed to make it to the final list approved by the sports ministry which is expected to be released in detail soon.

For those who don't know, Breakdancing, along with E-sports, has been introduced as a medal event by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).

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