Dikhyaa Mohanty 
The Indian hockey teams won’t participate in next year’s Birmingham Commonwealth Games because of COVID-19 concerns and UK’s discriminatory quarantine rules for travellers from India.
According to the reports, Gyanandro Ningombam, Hockey India (HI) president wrote to Indian Olympic Association (IOA) president Narinder Batra informing him about the decision. He pointed out that there is only a 32-day window available between the Birmingham Games (July 28-August 8, 2022) and Hangzhou Asian Games (September 10-25, 2022), so it can’t risk sending the teams to the UK, which is one of the worst-affected countries by the coronavirus pandemic.
He wrote that he will appreciate that 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 can not risk any member of the Indian teams contracting COVID-19 during the Commonwealth Games.
The UK doesn’t recognize India’s COVID vaccination certificates, so due to which Indians travelling to the UK have to undergo a 10-day quarantine, even if they were fully vaccinated. Further, the Indian Government also imposed similar curbs on British nationals arriving in the country.
