Photo courtesy: AIFF Media
On a blustery night of September 30, 2015, the India U-19 National Team reached Palestinian shores for the AFC U-19 Championship Qualifiers, which are slated to kick-off on October 2, 2015.
Reaching Palestine proved to be a Herculean effort as the Indian colts had to first switch flights from Doha, Qatar to Amman, Jordan, after leaving Indian shores on the wee hours of Wednesday (September 30, 2015) morning and then had to travel for more than 5 hours via bus to reach Palestine.
All in all, the tedious journey took the 23 member India U-19 squad just over 15 hours to reach Ramallah in Palestine, exclusive of the waiting time at the airports and the border check-ins.
The Indian colts have arrived two days prior to their opening clash against hosts Palestine on October 2, 2015 and will be having their first training session in Palestine today (October 1, 2015).
The Indian colts are drawn into Group C along with hosts Palestine, UAE and Afghanistan; and come into the Qualifiers on the back of a 2-1 win over Malaysian club side Frenz United A in the FAM-FRENZ Asia Champions Trophy 2015.
India’s schedule in AFC U-19 Championship Qualifiers is as follows:
October 2, 2015: India vs Palestine
October 4, 2015: India vs United Arab Emirates
October 6, 2015: India vs Afghanistan