A first for India at Asian Games: Safeguarding Officer to tackle abuse or neglect

New Delhi: Following a mandate made compulsory by the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), Neetal Narang will be India's first ever Safeguarding Officer in the Asian Games where she will be the athletes' point of contact for matters related to harassment, abuse or neglect during the mega-event.

Narang is the President of the Softball Association of India and was a part of the erstwhile Boxing India's administrative set-up.

Also Read: India grapples with 'endemic' age-fraud menace in sports


She has completed the requisite International Olympic Committee's (IOC) Certificate course for Safeguarding Officer in Sport. The 20th Asian Games will run from September 19 to October 4 in Aichi-Nagoya, Japan.

"It's a very broad role which will cover something as small as neglect to something as grievous as mental harassment or worse sexual harassment. My job is to give athletes a safe space to express themselves whether it is psychological abuse or harassment or bullying, neglect and isolation.

Also Read: Asian Games 2026: India eyes record medal haul in Aichi-Nagoya

"The process of dealing with these complaints will be kept confidential to inspire confidence among athletes," Narang told PTI.

"They have already been sensitised and will be given a broader idea of what they can expect of a Safeguarding Officer in the coming days. It's the first time India is having such an officer for its Asian Games contingent and hopefully it would prove to be beneficial," she added.

Narang would be working in close coordination with OCA's Safeguarding Officer, who would be in charge of documenting all reports of harassment and abuse during the Games.

The OCA made the role mandatory in 2022 and subsequently, India had a Safeguarding Officer for the Youth Asian Games last year with former shot-putter Om Prakash Karhana fulfilling the responsibility.

"Harassment and abuse have no space in sport, and it is our collective responsibility to ensure safe sports all year round. Any athlete should be given the option to report to a safeguarding officer when needed," the OCA had stated while outlining its safeguarding framework.

Safeguarding Officers have also been a part of the Olympics with some countries including them in the 2024 Paris Games where it was not compulsory to have them.

India will field 503 athletes (269 men and 234 women) in 36 disciplines at the Asian Games hoping to better the best ever tally of 106 medals achieved in the previous edition of the Games in Hangzhou. The haul included 28 gold, 38 silver and 40 bronze medals.

At the Hangzhou Games, India fielded a significantly higher 661 athletes in 35 sports.

Just 56 women in support staff

The 246-strong contingent of support staff features only 56 women, which is roughly 22 per cent of the total strength.

The skewed male-female ratio of the contingent prompted the Sports Ministry to direct the IOA to ensure that "adequate" female staff is available for squads which don't have any earmarked.

Volleyball and E-Sports understandably do not have women support staff as only men are in fray in these events.

However, the all-female three-member judo squad and golf (three women representatives) too do not have female support staff members.

"IOA shall ensure adequate availability of female support staff, such as Doctors, Physiotherapists, Masseuses, etc. from the approved pool of support staff for the welfare and assistance of female athletes in disciplines where such female support staff are not included in the discipline-wise contingent," the Ministry stated in its order.

An IOA source said since there is no mandate to have a specific number of women officials, National Sports Federations (NSFs) cannot be forced to include them.

"We can only urge them to ensure that the ratio is balanced but it's their call end of the day. Also, in some cases the athletes want specific coaches who are males, that cannot be ignored either," said the source.