xtratime Logo

XtraTime Web Desk: India has been drawn in a tough Group C of the AFC U16 Championships Bahrain 2020. The India colts are placed alongside Korea Republic, Australia and Uzbekistan in the draw held on Thursday.
India qualified for the U-16 Finals when they finished as Group B champions in Tashkent from a group which had Uzbekistan (hosts), Bahrain and Turkmenistan. The Indian colts finished with 7 points from three matches scoring 11 goals, while conceding 1.

This is India’s third consecutive qualification in the AFC U-16 finals, and ninth overall.

In 2018, the U-16 boys stayed a win away from a direct qualification into the FIFA U-17 World Cup when they lost to Korea Republic by a solitary goal in the quarterfinals. That was India’s second entry into the quarterfinals, the earlier being in 2002.

The current batch will head to the Championship in Bahrain on back of some amazing results last year that saw them net score a whopping 28 goals (without conceding any from five matches on their way to the SAFF U-15 Championship title. The boys currently stay unbeaten in 8 International matches.

Here are the four groups in the AFC 16 Championships final:

Group A: Bahrain, DPR Korea, IR Iran, Qatar
Group B: Tajikistan, Oman, Yemen, UAE
Group C: Korea Republic, Australia, India, Uzbekistan
Group D: Japan, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, China PR