India take on Palestine in opener

Defending champions India will take on Palestine in the opening match of the 14th Nehru Cup international football tournament at the Ambedkar Stadium here on August 19.

India,who beat Syria 1-0 in the 2007 final,have been placed in Group A along with Lebanon and Palestine,who replaced Thailand at the last minute. Syria,Kyrgyzstan and Sri Lanka made up Group B. The group matches will be played in a round-robin format and the top two teams will qualify for the semi-finals to be played on August 27 and 28. The final will be played on August 31 a day before.

Thailand out

The tournament,which was put off by a day from its earlier August 18 start,also got a jolt after 117th-ranked Thailand was replaced by Palestine.

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AIFF general secretary Alberto Colaco told reporters that the federation decided to scrap Thailands entry after they refused to confirm the participation of their national team. Thailand confirmed their participation but from their players list we found it was their U-19 team. We told Thailands national federation that we cannot accept a junior team for a tournament meant for national squads. Thailand did not reply so we invited Palestine, he said.

Training camp

Colaco said the Indian team will return on Friday after training in Dubai and Barcelona. The players will disperse and re-assemble for a camp in Gurgaon from August 12, he said.

The winners of the tournament will earn $40,000 while the runners-up and third-place finishers will be richer by $20,000 and 10,000 respectively. The winning team of the each of the 10 matches,including both group and knock-out matches,will get $500 while the Man of the Match will get $300.

Syria is the highest-ranked team at 95th followed by Lebanon at 148th while India and Sri Lanka are both at 156th. Palestine are the lowest rank at 160th. All matches will be played under floodlights beginning at 1830 hrs.