Football
India drawn against Kyrgyz Republic, Turkmenistan for Olympics 2024 qualifiers
The Indian women's national team will play against Kyrgyz Republic and Turkmenistan in the Round 1 of Asian qualifiers.
Indian women's football team at a training (Source: India football/Twitter)
The Round 1 draws are out for the Women's Football tournament at the Paris 2024 Olympics Asian qualifiers. India has been drawn against Kyrgyz Republic and Turkmenistan to constitute Group G. There are a total of 26 teams battling to make it to the next round.
For the first round of the Asian qualifiers, there are seven groups, five with four teams each, and two with three. Each group will go through a round-robin format and the group toppers will advance into the second round. The matches are set to be played at centralised venues between 3rd-11th April, 2023.
For the second round of qualifiers, the seven group toppers will join the top five best ranked teams to be divided into three groups of four. Here as well, the table toppers will advance to the third and final round, along with best-ranked runner-up. These matches are touted to be played between 23rd-31st October, 2023.
In the final round of the Asian qualifiers, the remaining four teams will be divided into pairs, and the victors of each pair will get a ticket to the Paris 2024 Olympics. These matches will be played sometime in February, 2024.
So far in its history, the Indian women's national team has just once advanced to the second round of the qualifiers, which was back in 2018 for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. It is yet to grace the Olympic stage.
In 2022, India was host to the Women's AFC Asian Cup. Unfortunately, the hosts were forced to withdraw after playing just one match due to a Covid-19 outbreak inside the camp. In a first, the team failed to win the SAFF Championship after they were ousted in the semi-finals.
As per the most recent FIFA Women's World Ranking released on 9th December, 2022, India currently is 12th amongst the Asian teams. Its fellow group members Kyrgyz Republic and Turkmenistan are ranked 18th and 22nd respectively.
Round 1 Draws for the Women's Football tournament at Paris 2024 Olympics Asian Qualifiers:
Group A: Uzbekistan, Jordan, Timor-Leste, Bhutan.
Group B: Myanmar, IR Iran, Bangladesh, Maldives.
Group C: Vietnam, Nepal, Palestine, Afghanistan.
Group D: Thailand, Mongolia, Singapore, Sri Lanka.
Group E: Philippines, Hong Kong, Tajikistan, Pakistan.
Group F: Chinese Taipei, Indonesia, Lebanon.
Group G: India, Kyrgyz Republic, Turkmenistan.
