Dropping breakers from Asian Games disheartening: ADSFI secretary Biswajit Mohanty

After the Union Sports Ministry dropped the breakers from Asiad’s final list, the federation approached Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur with a request to allow its athletes to compete at no cost to the Government.

Participants in a breaking class in Visakhapatnam. | Photo Credit: K. R. Deepak / The Hindu

The Amateur Dance Sport Federation of India (ADSFI) has expressed its disappointment over the exclusion of breakers from the final list of the upcoming Asian Games.

After the Union Sports Ministry dropped the breakers from the final list, like several other sportspersons across different disciplines, the federation approached Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur with a request to allow its athletes to compete in the Asiad at no cost to the Government.

In a letter dated August 24 to Thakur, the ADFI said its athletes had been training for over two months and had a “strong chance of bagging a medal for India,” requesting the Minister “to clear our athletes at no cost to the Government and the Indian Olympic Association (IOA).”

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“There is no response. Time is running out and the rates of flight tickets are going up. This is a new discipline which is there in the Paris Olympics next year; it needs encouragement. If our athletes do not get adequate exposure, how can they qualify for the Olympics?” ADSFI secretary Biswajit Mohanty told Sportstar.

Addressing the breaking community, Mohanty said “the situation is unjust and disheartening” and questioned “the fairness of the selection process and the support we receive from our Sports Ministry.”