Breakdancing is one of the two events that will be making its debut in the upcoming Asian Games in HangZhou, China. But India will not have any representation for the sport as the sports ministry has refused to clear the four-member contingent for not fulfilling the desired criteria to make it to the Games. Breakdancing, along with E-sports, have been added as medal events by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA).
Two men and two women were nominated by Breakdance Federation of India (BDFI) in individual events for the Asian Games. Arif Iqbal Chaudhary, Eshwar Tiwari, Johanna Antonia Rodrigues and Siddhi Sumedh were the four members nominated for the event by the BDFI. For the unversed, Breakdance is a form of dance sport that blends with urban dance with remarkable athleticism.
Among Men's individual entries, the sports ministry rejected both Arif and Eshwar with the former ranked 16 in Asia. On the other hand, Eshwar never competed 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 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 conteded according to TOI.
Even in the case of 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.
