2012 Olympics Qualifiers: India open against Myanmar

The draw for the first round of Asian qualifiers for the 2012 London Olympics football tournament was held earlier today at AFC House in Kuala Lumpur. 22 out of 35 nations taking part in the Asian qualifiers will have to enter the competition in Round 1 itself with India having to face neighbours Myanmar over a home-and-away fixture to move into the second round. The 11 qualifiers and 13 seeded sides would face each other in June 2011.

Actually the fixture is a replay of the 2008 Beijing Olympics opening round Asian qualifiers, when India had beaten Myanmar 4-1 at home in Kolkata and then drawn one-all in Yangoon in February 2007 to move on. Now it will be a replay four years on with a younger bunch of players.

The Olympic football tournament is an Under-23 event, so the qualifiers are also an U-23 tournament. With the AFC Asian Cup through at the time the Olympic qualifiers start, India could be fielding its strongest Under-23 team in the qualifiers. But some players who are set to represent India at the Asian Games won't be playing the qualifiers as they will be too old by the time the qualifiers start.


DRAW & FIXTURES

First leg: February 23, 2011
Second leg: March 9, 2011

Thailand vs Palestine
Jordan vs Chinese Taipei
Yemen vs Singapore
Kuwait vs Bangladesh
Malaysia vs Pakistan
United Arab Emirates vs Sri Lanka
India vs Myanmar
Oman vs Tajikistan
Indonesia vs Turkmenistan
Iran vs Kyrgyzstan
Hong Kong vs Maldives