India’s eFootball team is out of the Asian Games after Mongolia missed its check-in time, with some Indian fans have called the result “cheating”.
Danial Patel and Chinmay Sahoo opened their campaign with a 0-0 draw against Uzbekistan in the three-team group. Uzbekistan then beat Mongolia 2-0 across mobile and console matches, getting a sizable advantage on goal difference.
India needed a strong result against Mongolia on Tuesday, but the match never took place at the Aichi Sky Expo centre. According to Patel, who spoke to The Bridge, Mongolia’s team leader arrived three minutes after the scheduled check-in time. India received a forfeit win recorded as 0-0.
India protested and asked to play the match, but officials said the rules required a forfeit. Sahoo said the team could have paid $500 for a judge panel review, but India decided against it.
The 0-0 result meant India could not advance as one of the best second-placed teams. Thailand and Saudi Arabia took those spots with goal differences of +3 and +2.
Indian fans reacted with anger and frustration on social media.
“Sh*t man. This is so frustrating,” one user wrote.
Another said, “We would have got gold medal for sure.”
Some fans blamed the other teams. “That is blatant fix and cheating..shame on uzbek and mongolia,” one person wrote, while another suggested, “probably did it on purpose too.”
Not everyone agreed. “We should come out of this victim mindset,” one comment stated.
