#AsianGames2014: Dr Vece Paes dropped, Jude Felix included in Asiad squad

The sports ministry dropped Leander Paes' father and the team doctor for the tennis contingent, Dr Vece Paes, from the revised list of athletes and officials for the Asian Games in Incheon on Saturday.

However, names of the men's hockey team coach Jude Felix and women's hockey physiotherapist Gaurav Mehra and video analyst Amutha Prakash were included in the revised list.

The sports ministry on Saturday decided to accommodate some of the concerns raised by Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to include team managers in five more disciplines for the Asiad. All these names were not in the pruned list cleared by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).

Faced with criticism from the aggrieved IOA, the ministry allowed Praveen Jolly (athletics), Balbir Singh Kushwaha (kayaking and canoeing), SM Bali (handball), MV Sriram (rowing) and VS Dahiya (sepak takraw) to accompany their respective squads for the multi-sport event.

The ministry has also cleared the names of Ravi Shankar (recurve coach, Archery), Chandra Shekhar Laguri (compound coach, Archery), Kamaljeet Kaur Walia (physio-cum-masseuse, Athletics), Ramanand (coach, Boxing) and Ravi Prakash Tripathi (coach, Wushu).

As reported by dna earlier, Vece's name was excluded after the Sports Authority of India (SAI) recommended to the ministry that he should not be allowed to travel to Incheon after Leander pulled out of the event citing circuit rating points.

Dr Anand Kumar will now accompany tennis team as his replacement.

However, Sania Mirza's mother and the team manager for the tennis contingent, Naseema Mirza, who was facing the axe from the list of officials, was retained after her daughter decided to play in the Asian Games on Friday.
Naseema has been touring tennis teams as manager, including the 2012 London Olympics.

With the addition of five names, the total number of managers cleared for the Games has gone up to 10. The ministry had earlier cleared the 679-member contingent in 28 disciplines.

"Our ministry was very much positive about changing the contingent for the Asian Games. This is a positive move. We are trying to give all possible support to the athletes,'' said sports minister Sarbananda Sonowal.