Pakistan to take on Oman in Asian Games

ISLAMABAD Pakistan will take on Oman in their opening match of the 16th Asian Games as the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA) announced the fixture of the soccer event which will commence from November 7, five days prior to opening ceremony of the mega sports event of the region. Chinese city Guangzhou will host the 16th edition of the Asian Games from November 12 to 27 this year. The soccer fixture will be held from November 7 to 26. Twenty-four teams will fight for the medal at Haixinsha Island in the Pearl River. Green shirts are bracketed in Group F along with Oman, Thailand and Maldives. The under-23 lads, with three over age players, would be allowed to each team to compete in the international soccer event. The players, born on or after January 1, 1987, will be eligible to get berth in the national squads. The competitions will be played at seven venues - Ying Dong Stadium, Huadu Stadium, Huangpu Stadium, Yuexiu Stadium, Guangdong Peoples Stadium, Huagdong Stadium and Tianhe Stadium. The dimension of playing field of all seven venues as well as 17 training venues will be 105x68 metres. The event will see 24 teams divided into six groups of four teams each with the top two sides from each group in addition to four best third placed teams will reach in the pre-quarterfinals. Built in 1987, 60,000-capacity Tianhe stadium that hosted the final of the inaugural FIFA Womens World Cup in 1991 will host the final November 26. Defending champions Qatar have been handed a relatively easy group in 52-match show. Qatar, who defeated Iraq 1-0 in the final of the last edition of the Asian Games held in their own backyard, are being placed in Group D alongside Kuwait, India and Singapore. Pakistani football team was omitted from the Asian Games on June 28 but President Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) Makhdoom Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat convinced the Pakistan Olympic Association (POA) to include it in the contingent by offering to bear the expenses of the teams participation in the Asian Games and National under-23 team made re-entry on August 27. It will be the eighth trip to the Asian Games for Pakistan, who appeared in seven editions out of 15 so far in Manila 1954, Tokyo 1958, Tehran 1974, Seoul 1986, Beijing 1990, Busan 2002 and Doha 2006. They missed the soccer event of quadrennial Games eight times at New Delhi 1951, 1982, Jakarta 1962, Bangkok 1966, 1970, 1978, 1998 and Hiroshima 1994. Groups: Group A: China, Malaysia, Kyrgyzstan, Japan Group B: Iran, Vietnam, Bahrain, Turkmenistan Group C: Korea Republic, Palestine, Jordan, DPR Korea Group D: Qatar, Kuwait, India, Singapore Group E: Uzbekistan, UAE, Hong Kong, Bangladesh Group F: Pakistan, Thailand, Maldives, Oman. Group E: Bangladesh.