New Delhi, Dec 23: Meghalaya’s own Riiohlang Dhar has been selected along with a list of 18 Indian referees in the FIFA Refereeing International list for 2022, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) announced on Thursday.
Dhar, who is also a constable with Meghalaya Police (MLP), was selected in October, 2020 in the elite list of FIFA International Referees from India. She was among four women referees named from India at the time.
As per AIFF, the extensive list includes officials who are qualified to be referees and assistant referees.
Dhar, a resident of Jowai in West Jaintia Hills, was named among the FIFA list of women assistant referees.
She was selected as match official for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Asian Cup India 2022- Qualifier Group D in Lebanon from September 17-23, 2021.
Riiohlang was selected along with Ranjita Devi Tekcham from Manipur as the two women referees from India to officiate in the match at Lebanon.
In 2018, Dhar and Ranjita Devi Tekcham had made it to the coveted list of elite FIFA International referees. She had, at the time, said that she had not receive any support from the state government.
Notably, members of the list are eligible to officiate at the international level, a milestone that is typically coveted by the referees community.
The selection for the annual list is made through the nominations sent by FIFA member countries and the officials are required to clear a fitness test and medical examination.
Out of the 18 selected Indians by FIFA, four are women (two referees and two assistant referees), and the remaining 14 are men (six referees and eight assistant referees).
List of selected Indian officials
Men referees: Tejas Nagvenkar, Srikrishna Coimbatore Ramaswamy, Rowan Arumughan, Crystal John, Pranjal Banerjee, Venkatesh Ramachandran.
Men assistant referees: Sumanta Dutta, Antony Abraham, Tony Joseph Louis, Vairamuthu Parasuraman, Samar Pal, Kennedy Sapam, Arun Sasidharan Pillai, Asit Kumar Sarkar.
Women referees: Ranjita Devi Tekcham, Kanika Barman.
Women assistant referees: Uvena Fernandes, Ri-iohlang Dhar. (Agencies)
