Indian football team leaves for AFC U-23 Championship

New Delhi: A 23-member squad under head coach Savio Medeira left for Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Monday to compete in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Under-23 Championship.

Besides hosts Bangladesh, India has been clubbed in Group E with Uzbekistan and Syria.

The championship serves as the preliminary qualifying phase of the 2016 Olympics.

The winner of the group along with the five best second-placed teams (from all groups) would proceed to the final phase of the AFC Under-23 Championship which is slated to be held in Doha in 2016.

India's schedule in the AFC U-23 Championship:
March 27: India vs Uzbekistan.
March 29: India vs Syria.
March 31: India vs Bangladesh.

The squad:
Goalkeepers: Amrinder Singh, Albino Gomes, Rehenesh T.P.

Defenders: Abhishek Das, Satish Singh, Sankar Sampingraj, Deepak, Bikramjit Singh, Sandesh Jhingan, Pritam Kotal.

Midfielders: Germanpreet Singh, Nikhil Kadam, Dhanachandra Meetei, Prabir Das, Siam Hangal, Manish Bhargav, Avinash Rui Das.

Forwards: Sumit Passi, Haokip Thonghkosim, Rajinder Kumar, Jayesh Rane, Vinit Rai, Holicharan Narzary.