For Asaid accreditation, smiles are a no-no

New Delhi, May 22 

At times, a blank or a grumpy face could be more desirable than a smiling one. Sounds wrong? Well, ask India’s track and field athletes, many of whom have been denied accreditation for the upcoming Asian Games for flashing a wide smile in the pictures sent for the purpose. As many as 19 athletes and two officials have been told by the Indian Olympic Association (IOA) to resend their photos in a proper format to get their accreditation processed.  

The deadline to apply for the accreditation is over but IOA has assured the smiling ‘offenders’ that their case will be considered if they send their proper photographs.

The Athletics Federation of India (AFI) officials said strict guidelines were in place regarding the photos and passport of athletes to be uploaded for the accreditation. “IOA had sent us the guidelines about the accreditation process. It may seem funny but the organisers had in fact mentioned in the guidelines that an athlete cannot smile, nor show his teeth in the picture sent for the accreditation.  Besides, the picture must have a white background,” said an AFI official.

There’s no big name among the ‘offenders, except for reigning women’s 400m Asian champion and Rio Olympian Nirmala Sheoran. Her photo was rejected as the background was not white. “We had told the athletes well in advance about the dos and don’ts regarding the pictures. They are facing problems because they have not adhered to the guidelines,” the official said. “It had happened in the run-up to the Gold Coast CWG as well. We had to resend the photos of some athletes after their accreditation was rejected initially. Of course, they were given accreditation later,” he added.

The athletes have been told by AFI to submit fresh photographs by Tuesday midnight. — PTI