Women’s Asian Cup Kit Controversy: All India Football Federation Breaks Silence on ‘Quick Fix’ Claim

All India Football Federation (AIFF) deputy secretary-general M Satyanarayan has commented that the federation was severely criticised for the women’s team’s kit issue in the AFC Women’s Asian Cup, but the quick action to fix the problem was mostly ignored.

The dispute arose only 48 hours before the Indian women’s national football team kicked off their tournament in Australia. It was reported that the kits first sent by the AIFF were made for age-group teams and, as such, did not fit almost 80 per cent of the 26-member senior squad. It was after the senior players wrote to the federation that properly sized kits were arranged, with the officials being forced to make the arrangements at short notice.

Satyanarayan said that the federation can only be said to have acted swiftly when the matter was brought to their attention. In order to have players dressed appropriately before the match, he said that replacement kits were organised only a few hours later. The AIFF were finally able to procure 55 jerseys in a couple of sets from an Italian company that had stock in Perth.

Although it was a logistical nightmare, the delivery of the new kits was accomplished within seven hours. However, Satyanarayan remarked that the fast upturn was hardly recognised by the media. According to him, the federation took swift steps to provide the players with first-rate kits that were in line with international standards.

On the other hand, the Indian women’s team suffered a tough tournament. They lost all their Group C matches and ended their run with a 3-1 loss to the Chinese Taipei women’s national football team in Sydney. Nevertheless, the team made a fightback in their first game against the Vietnam women’s national football team and even in the last group match, the final result notwithstanding, they displayed resilience.

Satyanarayan additionally acknowledged that AIFF has decided to start a formal investigation into the kit debacle. The integrity officer of the federation, a retired CBI official, is the person responsible for carrying out a thorough probe to know how the problem unfolded.

After receiving the report, AIFF will go through the details and then decide on the further course of action. Satyanarayan stressed that the federation deserves to be transparent and it is willing to take measures to prevent the recurrence of such issues.

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