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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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The winners will take the two spots reserved for AFC in the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament Paris 2024.

-IANS

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