Turkmenistan withdraw from Asian Games

LAHORE—Pakistan’s possible clash with Turkmenistan on December 6 in Group F of the 15th Asian Games football tournament will not take place as the Central Asian country has withdrawn from the event.
The withdrawal of Turkmenistan has forced the Organizing Committee of the event to announce a new football competition format.
Football Federation of Turkmenistan (FFT) secretary Meret Satylov said that the team pulled out of the competition because there were doubts about how they would do in the Qatar capital of Doha.
The withdrawal could result in fine imposed by the Asian Football Confederation. Football clubs in the poor nation of six million are under-funded and have been decimated by
the mass migration of players to other ex-Soviet states, according to the information made available here on Thursday by Pakistan Football Federation.
The soccer event of 15th Asian Games will use Olympic competition rules for the second time, which means only players under the age of 23 are allowed to compete. However, a maximum of three players who are older than that may also be included in the official squad.
Pak-Turkmenistan clash was to be played at Doha’s Al-Arabi Stadium. The 24-nation soccer fiesta will commence on November 28 2006 at Doha’s Al-Sadd Football Stadium, with United Arab Emirates taking on Uzbekistan. The final of the 18-day event will be held on December 15 at Al-Gharrafa Football Stadium.
Pakistan will open mission against Japan (November 29) at the Qatar Sports Club Stadium, followed by Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (December 3) at the same venue. Pakistan’s third match will be against a qualifier on December 6.
The best runner-up of the ongoing qualifying event will qualify, along with the top two teams of qualifying event, for 24-nation final phase. The runner-up will replace Turkmenistan in Group F. Turkmenistan’s withdrawal confirmed that just 21 teams pre-qualified for the second round of the competition.
After two days of matches in the Qualifying Tournament, Kyrgyzstan leads Group A and Iraq heads Group B. The eight teams in the Qualifiers play the third of their three matches tomorrow.
Friday, November 24 Fixtures : Macau v Jordan, Singapore v Indonesia at the Al-Wakra Sports Club, Tajikistan v Kyrgyzstan, Iraq v Syria at the Al Ahli Sports Club.—Online