Women’s Olympic Qualifiers India to open campaign against Japan in Round 2

KUALA LUMPUR: The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) on Friday announced the fixtures for Round 2 of the AFC Women’s Olympic Football Tournament Paris 2024 with India opening their campaign against Japan on October 26. The draw for the Women’s Olympic Qualifiers was earlier conducted in May. India, ranked 60 in the world, will face London 2012 silver-medallists Japan (ranked 11) in their first Group C match on October 26 at the JAR Stadium in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

Three days later, the Blue Tigresses will take on 32-ranked Vietnam, who qualified for their first FIFA Women’s World Cup this year, at the same venue. India’s final opponents in the group will be 49-ranked Uzbekistan on November 1 at the Bunyodkor Stadium.

India qualified for Round 2 courtesy of two comfortable victories over Kyrgyz Republic (5-0 and 4-0) in Bishkek in April.

Round 2 consists of three groups of four teams each. Group A features Australia, Chinese Taipei, Philippines and IR Iran. Group B has China PR, Korea Republic, Thailand and DPR Korea while Japan, Vietnam, Uzbekistan (hosts) and India are placed in group C.

The three group winners and the best-ranked runners-up will progress to Round 3 to play two pairs of home and away matches in February 2024. The winners will take the two spots reserved for AFC in the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament Paris 2024. IANS

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