Over 500 athletes cleared for Asiad

NEW DELHI, July 1: The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) has cleared 514 athletes for the upcoming Asian Games but the contingent is likely to be smaller than the last edition in Incheon, where 541 players competed. The IOA is expected to release the list on Monday but there is a possibility that a few more names could be added to the list. The IOA had fixed June 30 deadline to all the National Sports Federations to send their final list. This time, the IOA had set strict criteria to clear the country's participants -- top six performance of the last Asian Games in individual events and top eight in team events. This led to teams like football and handball to be left out. Athletics, which sends the largest contingent, will have just 53 competitors despite the Asian Games organisers allotting 102 quota places to India. IANS