Indian women`s football team in AFC U-19 Qualifiers Round 2

New Delhi: Indian women`s football team rode on a first half goal from striker Anita Rawat as they beat Uzbekistan 1-0 to make it to the second round of the AFC Under-19 Championship Qualifiers with an unbeaten record at Melaka in Malaysia on Wednesday.

Rawat struck in the 22nd minute as India dominated the match at Hang Jebat Stadium. Both India and Uzbekistan have already qualified for the second round with a game to spare but the win today put the former on top of Group A with two wins from as many matches. India had beaten Bangladesh in their opening encounter on October 20 before beating Uzbekistan today. Uzbekistan, who had beaten Bangladesh in their opening match on October 22, finished second in the three-team group. India and Uzbekistan now join Group C winners Myanmar and runners-up Chinese Taipei, Iran and Jordan, who booked their tickets from Group B, and Thailand and Vietnam, who were given automatic places in the second phase of the qualifiers. The eight teams will be divided into two groups of four and play a round-robin league in a centralised format with the top two teams meeting in a play-off to determine who advances to next year`s AFC U-19 Women`s Championship. PTI