AIFF Media Team

NEW DELHI: With the AFC U-19 Women’s Championship (Qualifiers) less than a month away, the India U-19 Women’s Team is rehearsing in full swing in Gandhinagar, Ahmadabad.

A total of 35 campers are being put through the paces for the past one month by Head Coach Priya PV. Out of the 35 hopefuls, 18 have already donned India colours in different age groups (U-13, U-14, U-16 and U-19).

Group A matches of the AFC U-19 Qualifiers start from November 5 in Amman, Jordan. Apart from India, Jordan Uzbekistan, and Lebanon are the other teams in the group.

“Practice sessions are going on well,” Coach Priya told www.the-aiff.com from their training base in Gandhinagar.

“It is good to have these girls for such a long duration as it helps fine-tune them for the big meet in November,” she added.

On having a good chunk of National Team players in the mix, Priya said: “National team players come with more international experience and this helps the other girls to pick up from their senior counterparts.

“There is still good competition among all the 35 campers including National Team players and no one’s place is assured.”  

This will be the eighth edition of the AFC U-19 Women’s Championship scheduled to take place next year.

Korea Republic, DPR Korea, China and Japan gained direct qualifications by virtue of their top-four finishes in the last edition.

Each group shall play a one-round league in a centralised venue, where each team in the group shall play one match against every other team.

The winners from each group (total four teams) will qualify for the finals.

For the record, India’s best finish in the meet has been a quarterfinal berth in the 2004 edition.