Will Team India Accept Asian Games Medals From Mohsin Naqvi? BCCI Breaks Silence
Both Indian teams are defending champions at the Asian Games and are favourites to win the gold medal again this year in Aichi-Nagoya 2026.
- Both Indian teams are defending Asian Games champions and favourites for gold in Aichi-Nagoya 2026
- Indian teams declined Asia Cup trophies and medals from Pakistan's Mohsin Naqvi in the past two years
- BCCI secretary Devajit Saikia wan non-committal on whether India will accept medals from Mohsin Naqvi
The Indian men's and women's cricket teams are expected to accept medals from Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) chairman Mohsin Naqvi, according to a report. Both Indian teams are defending champions at the Asian Games and are favourites to win the gold medal again this year in Aichi-Nagoya 2026. The Asia Cup trophy impasse continued for a second successive year after the victorious Indian women's cricket team declined to accept the trophy from Naqvi, who is also the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) chairman, on Sunday.
Notably, the Indian men's team had also declined to receive the Asia Cup trophy and medals from Naqvi last year. Naqvi also serves as Pakistan's Interior Minister.
According to a report in The Times of India (TOI), the Indian teams will accept medals from Naqvi if the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) delegates him to present them.
"According to OCA regulations and top Indian Olympic Association (IOA) sources, if Naqvi is officially delegated the responsibility by OCA president Sheikh Joaan bin Hamad Al Thani of Qatar, Indian athletes will be expected to accept their medals. Refusal to do so will be regarded as disrespecting the Games, the OCA and its authorised representative, potentially inviting disciplinary action," the report said.
When asked about the BCCI's stance, board secretary Devajit Saikia said: "We are focusing solely on the matches. The teams first have to reach the podium. We will take a call then, taking into account all prevailing factors at that moment. We will cross that bridge when we come to it. The focus of the board and players is only on winning matches. We don't want to comment on anything else that hasn't happened yet."
As per Article 66 of the OCA Constitution and Rules, under the section titled 'Victory and Medals Ceremony', medals are presented to the winners by the OCA president, who also has the authority to delegate the responsibility to other OCA members.
The rule further states: "No kind of demonstration or commercial, political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted during the victory ceremony of the Games."
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