By Joseph Solomon,
AIFF Media Team
RAMALLAH (PALESTINE): On a blustery night of September 30, 2015, the Indian U-19 National Team reached Palestinian shores for the AFC U-19 Qualifiers, which are slated to kick-off from October 02, 2015.
Reaching Palestine proved to be a Herculean effort as the Indian colts had to first switch flights from Doha, Qatar to Amman, Jordan, after leaving Indian shores on the wee hours of Wednesday (September 30, 2015) morning and then had to travel for more than 5 hours via bus to reach Palestine.
All in all, the tedious journey took the 23 member Indian squad just over 15 hours to reach Ramallah in Palestine, exclusive of the waiting time at the airports and the border check-ins.
The Indian colts have arrived two days prior to their opening clash against hosts Palestine on October 02, 2015 and will be having their first training session in Palestine tomorrow (October 01, 2015).
The Indian colts are drawn into Group C along with hosts Palestine, UAE and Afghanistan; and come into the Qualifiers on the back of a 2-1 win over Malaysian club side Frenz United A in the FAM-FRENZ Asia Champions Trophy 2015.
India’s schedule in AFC U-19 Qualifiers is as follows:
October 02, 2015: India vs Palestine
October 04, 2015: India vs United Arab Emirates (UAE)
October 06, 2015: India vs Afghanistan