Women’s Asian Cup: After early exit, AIFF defends India’s preparations
New Delhi: Subrata Paul, the AIFF’s director of national teams, defended the preparations for the AFC Women’s Asian Cup on Thursday, describing them as “quite extensive” despite India’s group-stage exit from the tournament in Australia.
The team was knocked out of the tournament after losing all three Group C matches, concluding its campaign with a 3-1 defeat to Chinese Taipei in Sydney on Tuesday.
Despite the disappointing results though, the team showed fighting spirit in their final match and in the opener against Vietnam.
“I believe the preparation was actually quite extensive. The Indian team spent around 48 days overseas for exposure. The team played six matches in Turkey and two in Australia. Prior to that, they spent six days in Dubai and played two matches, and earlier had a 13-day camp in Shillong where they played two matches as well,” Paul said. “In addition, seven national team players represented East Bengal, where they played SAFF and AFC matches, and also featured in the Indian Women’s League, playing six to seven matches.Altogether, the players prepared for around 67 days, playing 13 games internationally, and about 17 matches for their club side,” said Paul, the former India goalkeeper.
In their first appearance in the tournament on merit, India entered with hopes of advancing, but the team instead finished bottom of their group following losses to Vietnam (1-2), Japan (0-11), and Chinese Taipei.
“In our initial plan, we had intended to complete the IWL before this tournament. However, at East Bengal’s request - so that the AFC Women’s Champions League and SAFF Women’s Championship commitments could be completed first - the league schedule was adjusted. As a result, instead of all 14 matches, the girls played seven. Even so, the core players still got international matches, which was in the best interest of the national team. The AIFF remained flexible with the IWL schedule to support that objective,” Paul said. agencies
