Qatar midfielder Assim Omer A Madibo (left) dribbles the ball past India’s Das Souvik during their AFC U-19 Championship 2014 qualifying match at Al Arabi Stadium in Doha yesterday. PICTURE BY: KAMMUTTY VP
DOHA: Second-half goals from Akram Afif and Hossam Kamal helped Qatar get off to a winning start by defeating India 2-0 in the AFC Under-19 Championship Qualifiers at Al Arabi Stadium yesterday.
Also yesterday, Turkmenistan beat Nepal 2-1 in front of nearly 5,000 loud and cheerful Nepalese fans.
Speaking of attracting the local communitities to the matches, Khalid Al Kuwari, Director of Marketing and Communications of Qatar Football Association (QFA), said: “We have worked extremely hard in spreading the word about the AFC U-19 Championship qualifiers and we targeted the different Asian communities living in Qatar in order to draw spectator attendance to the matches.”
He added: “Our aim in QFA is to build a relationship with different communities in Qatar and promote football by inviting them to our matches and tournaments and organising joint events with them such as the Asian Communities Football Tournament and Qatar Indian Football Forum Tournament.”
The winner of the five-team group along with the winners of the other eight groups, five from West zone and four from East will play in the finals in October 2014 as well as the six best placed sides hosts Myanmar. Turkmenistan play Uzbekistan at 4.30pm and Nepal face India at 7.00pm tomorrow. THE PENINSULA
