After England pulls out of Jr WC, India withdraws from CWG; cites discriminatory UK quarantine rules

New Delhi, Oct 6: The conflict between England and India is going on over vaccination certificates and quarantine regulations but the matter escalated when England announced withdrawal from the Junior World Cup, to be held in Bhubaneswar in November. A day after England pulled out of the major event, India confirmed the withdrawal of its men’s and women’s teams from next year’s Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

 

 

 

Hockey India said the pull-out was due to COVID-19 concerns and UK's discriminatory quarantine rules for travellers from the country. In a statement, Hockey India remarked that the UK has been the worst affected country in Europe during the Covid-19 pandemic.

 

It said in a statement, "As you aware that the Commonwealth Games are schedule in Birmingham, England from 28 July to 08 August 2022 and the Asian Games are scheduled in Hangzhou, China from 10 to 25 September 2022. There is an only a 32 day window between the conclusions of the Commonwealth Games before the start of the Asian Games. You will also appreciate the Asian Games is the continental qualification event for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games and keeping the priority of the Asian Games in mind, Hockey India cannot take a risk for any members of the Indian Teams contracting COVID-19 during the above the Commonwealth Games."

 

 

"It is pertinent to mention that due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation, England have issued guidelines that 10 days quarantine is required Indians arrivals in England even for those who are fully vaccinated, since unfortunately the Indian vaccinations are not yet recognized by the English government. Such discriminatory restrictions were not imposed on Indian athletes and officials during the recent Tokyo Olympic Games and this 10 days quarantine requirement for vaccinated sports persons will affect their performances. We feel these restrictions are biased against India and term it as very unfortunate (sic)," the statement added.

 

 

Prior to this, on Monday, Hockey England had announced their withdrawal from the Junior World Cup, which will be held from November 24 to December 5. “…with a number of COVID-related concerns in place, and with player and staff wellbeing in mind, it has become untenable for our team to participate. We note that on Friday the Indian government announced a mandatory ten-day quarantine for all UK nationals,” Hockey England said in a statement.

 

Earlier, the UK had relaxed some restrictions on all travellers from India but imposed a mandatory 10-day quarantine. According to reports, the British authorities had raised questions over India’s vaccination certificate format, which led to fully vaccinated travellers from India being treated as unvaccinated.

 

 

India had imposed reciprocal measures on traveler from the United Kingdom in response to UK’s refusal to recognise Indian vaccine certificates. After the measures were imposed, visitors from UK will need to quarantine themselves for 10 days and subject themselves to RT-PCR tests after arriving in India.