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The Indian football team will not be traveling to Jakarta, Indonesia for the upcoming Asian Games in August, later this year, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) confirmed in a press conference at the federation's headquarters in New Delhi, on Monday.
The general reason given for this development is that neither of the women's team, not the men's team are ranked high enough to fit the Indian Olympic Association's (IOA) criteria to make it to the multi-sport event.
The IOA has set a blanket rule that the teams need to be ranked at least eighth or above, in order to participate in the Asiad. This rule has been introduced in order to ensure that the teams and athletes who travel to the Games stand a chance of winning medals.
While the women's team is ranked 13th amongst the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), the men's team is placed on the 14th spot. Since Australia is a part of the AFC, but not a part of the Asian Games, however, the effective rankings for both the teams will be 12th and 13th, respectively.
The Indian football team has shown a lot of promise in the recent years, climbing up to the 97th spot on the FIFA rankings, and booking themselves a spot in the 2019 AFC Asian Cup. Many believe that although the Indian football team does not have the required ranking, they have shown enough potential to deserve a ticket to Jakarta.
On that note, let's take a look at five surprising performances by India teams and individual athletes, that brought glory to the country.
#1 1911: Mohun Bagan became first Indian-only win IFA Shield
This is a story that has gone down in Indian sporting folklore. Never before had a team comprised of Indian players won a tournament of this magnitude. While Mohun Bagan had won local tournaments like the Trades Cup against English opposition in Colonial India, a victory in the major competitions was still awaited.
The Green and Maroons had already defeated teams like St Xavier's, Rangers, Rifle Brigade and Middlesex Regiment in the tournament, before facing the East Yorkshire Regiment in the final.
While the East Yorkshire Regiment had taken the lead in the first half, captain Sibdas Bhaduri scored the equaliser in the second half, before setting one up for Abhilash Ghosh on the 87th minute, to win it for Bagan.
This unprecedented win set off a wave of nationalistic sentiments across the city of Calcutta (now Kolkata), as one of the giants of Indian football took its baby steps in the beautiful game.
#2 1983: When India overcame the mighty West Indies
Another match that has gone down in history as a result that has changed Indian cricket forever. The Indian cricket team may be one of the best sides in any format of the gentleman's game today, but back in the 1980s, that was hardly the case.
To top that off, the Indians were faced off against a formidable West Indies side that had won the first two editions of the World Cup.
With the match being a 60-over affair back in the day, India ambled on to a rather disappointing score, as they were all out for 183 with more than five overs remaining. However, some inspired bit of bowling by Madan Lal and the man of the match Mohinder Amarnath picked up three wickets each, as India bowled West Indies out for 140 runs.
With this win, they became the first team to stop the mighty West Indies team, that has never won a World Cup since then.
#3 1985 Asian Championships: When PT Usha minted gold
A fourth-placed finish at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics had raised a lot of hopes the Indian fans, who were eagerly following the progress of PT Usha.
Although the boycott of the Los Angeles event by the Soviet Union athletes had helped her cause, a medal was expected at the Asian Games.
However, Usha had one formidable opponent in her path -- Lydia de Vega of the Philippines.
Despite the great rivalry, Usha soared past her opponent to sweep the 100m sprint, before bagging six other medals in Jakarta. This was one of the most dominating performances by an Indian athlete in a multi-sport event, one that is talked about even today.
#4 2016 Olympics: Sakshi Malik's bolt from the blue
The 2016 Rio Olympics was beginning to be a rather disappointing tournament for the Indian contingent. Even the wrestlers, who were expected to bring home some medals, were not being able to do so. A lot of hope was placed on the shoulders of the Phogat sisters, but nothing came of it in the end.
In the midst of it all, Sakshi Malik, who was not given much of a chance, in the presence of other stalwarts, stood tall to fight her way back and clinch a bronze medal -- the only Indian medal at that point, before PV Sindhu won a silver in women's singles badminton.
Even in her bronze medal match, Sakshi was down and out, as her opponent, Aisuluu Tynybekova of Kyrgyzstan, shot into a five-point lead. However, Sakshi made a brilliant comeback to level the scores and eventually produce a three-point move in the closing seconds, to clinch the match and the bronze medal by an 8-5 margin.
#5 I-League 2016/17: The Aizawl fairytale
And we're back to football again!
Nobody would have given Aizawl FC an inkling of a chance, to even stay afloat in the league, let alone win it. Incidentally, they had been relegated from the top division in the previous season, but as a couple of Goan clubs had pulled out of the I-League, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) decided to bring the minnows from Mizoram back.
What followed was nothing short of a fairytale run by Khalid Jamil and his men, as they went on to eclipse giants like East Bengal, Mohun Bagan and Bengaluru FC, to win the league for the first time in the history of the club.
Did we miss out on any such moments from our list? Sound off your opinions in the comments section below!
