India go down to Saudi Arabia in Asian under-19 qualifiers

November 4th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India Under-19 will open their campaign against Iraq in the Group C of the qualifying rounds of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-19 Championship Thursday at Arbil, Iraq. According to information received here, Indians arrived at Arbil Tuesday evening from Dubai and had a full training session at the Francouse Al - Harerri Stadium.

October 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - A seven-member Indian team for Vovinam, a martial art from Vietnam, will take part in the third Indoor Asian Games from Oct 30 at Hanoi. The team left Tuesday in order to get proper time to train at Ho Chi Minh City, which is the headquarter of the sport.

October 9th, 2009 LONDON - Dr Hafez Almedlej, the chairman of the Saudi Professional League Commission, has claimed that English football clubs are gaining in popularity and a dozen Saudi Arabian millionaires might come forward to buy some of them. He believes more Saudi investors will follow if the Portsmouth takeover by Ali Al Faraj is successful.

September 26th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Indian shooters won three golds in the double trap event in the Asian Clay Shooting championship at Almaty, Kazakhastan, Saturday. According to information received here, Ronjon Sodhi won the individual gold and India won the team gold.

September 17th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India's U-16 football team defeated Sri Lanka 1-0 in a friendly at Colombo Thursday. Both the teams played an attacking game but India found the back of the net in the 42nd minute through Lalnunmawia.

September 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - India goalkeeper Subrata Paul is now targeting to play in top football leagues in Japan and Saudi Arabia. Subrata's six-month contract with his American agent Eddie Rock expired Tuesday, a day after his heroics helped India to retain the ONGC Nehru Cup title, beating Syria 6-5 via the shootout.

August 19th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Syria, runners-up last time, are the highest ranked team at the ONGC Nehru Cup 2009 and they will have to live up to their top billing when they face 160th ranked Kyrgyzstan in the second game of the ONGC Nehru Cup here Thursday. Going by their recent track record, 96th-ranked Syria undoubtedly are the tournament favourites as they had beaten China and Lebanon in the Asian Cup qualifiers and currently are at the top of Group D.

July 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The All India Football Federation (AIFF) will receive an annual grant of $120,000 from the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) for the improvement of the game after the executive committee of the Asian body Wednesday included India in its aid programme. The AFC grant will help the AIFF pay coaches at the junior level and prepare a sound youth development programme.

July 14th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Indian team returned home on Tuesday after winning 14 medals at the three-day junior Asian Wrestling Championship in Manila.he team arrived at the international airport here this morning. Raj Singh, vice president, Wrestling Federation of India, who accompanied the team, said that this was the teams' best performance at the Asian Wrestling Championship.

July 12th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Indian team bagged a gold and a silver medal on the concluding day of the junior Asian Wrestling Championships at Manila, the Philippines, to finish with an impressive haul of 14 medals. Rahul Aware (55 kg) won the gold while Rahul Maan (60 kg) won the silver medal in free-style wrestling.

July 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India continued their dominance in the junior Asian Wrestling Championships at Manila Saturday, winning two golds and two silvers to take their overall medals tally to 12. Surender and Joginder Kumar won golds in the 50 kg and 120 kg free style respectvely.

June 27th, 2009 NEW DELHI - India coach Harjinder Singh Saturday blasted the All India Football Federation (AIFF) for the national women's team not figuring in the FIFA rankings while the federation secretary-general Alberto Colaco blames it on abysmal standard. India is among the 16 countries dropped from the FIFA women's rankings for not playing international matches in the last 18 months.

June 7th, 2009 BANGKOK - Japan was again the first team to qualify, with Australia and South Korea also through to the 2010 football World Cup. Japan Saturday joined South Africa, who have direct entry as hosts, at the 32-team tournament courtesy of Shinji Okazaki's ninth-minute header for a 1-0 win against hosts Uzbekistan.

June 7th, 2009 PYONGYANG - New Iranian coach Afshin Ghotbi remained upbeat after his team was held to a 0-0 draw with North Korea in a match Saturday that many had deemed a must-win fixture for his underperforming team. "The match was very important for both teams so there was clearly a lot of stress for both the North Korean and the Iran team," Ghotbi told reporters after the match.

June 7th, 2009 BANGKOK - Japan was first again to qualify, with Australia and South Korea also through to the 2010 football World Cup Saturday. Japan joined South Africa, who have direct entry as hosts, at the 32-team tournament thanks to Shinji Okazaki's ninth-minute header for a 1-0 win against hosts Uzbekistan.