AFC dismisses India's objections
The Asian Football Confederation brushed aside India's objections to the format for the Asian Games football tournament, saying it had clarified earlier that only the two best second-placed teams in the preliminary league would qualify for quarter-finals and there was
no ambiguity in the regulations, which were circulated to all
the teams ahead of the championship.
Dismissing the Indian team management's allegation that
qualification rules were changed midway through the
championship as "not true", tournament committee chairman
Tadao Murata said clause 7.5.4 of the regulations say "the
teams qualifying first (6 teams) and the two best runners-up
teams shall qualify for the quarter finals".
The Indian football manager Santo Mitra, in a letter to
Murata, had complained that the rules of qualification for
the quarter-finals were changed before India's last league
match against China.
"It is inconceivable that this could even be considered,
let alone implemented, midway through the tournament," Mitra
said in his letter.
"Further to this, we would like to point out the fact
that the teams in groups D, E and F had two extra days of
rest," he said.
"If this was not bad enough, you have two countries of
the same region (referring to Bahrain and Palestine) knowing
the result needed for the other to qualify. All games that
could decide a group should have been played at the same time
on the same day. It is a very regrettable situation and we
are deeply disappointed," he said.
In his reply, Murata said the scheduling of matches was a
Busan Asian Games Organising Commitee prerogative because of
the various events involved but it was ensured that all final
matches within the group would be played simultaneously.
"It is not possible to control the scheduling of matches
outside the group which involved the position of the
runners-up qualifiers," he said.
