Asian Youth Championship in India from Oct 29

Bangalore, May 4 (UNI) Hosts India will take on Kyrghyzstan on the opening day of the AFC Youth Championship (Under-20) football tournament, to held in two cities from October 29 to November 12.

The tournament, to be played in Kolkata and Bangalore, would see as many as 16 countries vying for top honours, Karnataka State Football Association President A R Khaleel told newspersons here today.

He said the Tournament would be held for the first time in the city and the matches would be played in the Football Stadium ground (two matches) and Sree Kanteerava Stadium.

The participating teams were divided into four groups and India was placed in Group 'A' along with Korea Republic, Kyrgyzstan and Jordan. While China, Thailand, UAE and Australia are placed under Group'B', strong contender Japan, Iran, Tajikistan and DPR Korea was in Group 'C' and Iraq, Malaysia, Vietnam and Saudi Arabia figure in Group 'D'.

Mr Khaleel also informed that the Japanese team would be arriving here for a week-long tour from May 22 and playing three practice matches against Indian Probables and a few matches with local teams HAL and Army.

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