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MUMBAI: Zee Sports, the television partner to the AIFF, will produce
and telecast the AFC Youth Championship from Kolkata and Bangalore
starting 29 October to 12 November 2006.
Two production units will be working simultaneously in Kolkata
and Bangalore to produce the telecast for the international football
tournament to be held in India. In Kolkatta the matches will played
at the Salt Lake Stadium and in Bangalore the matches will be played
at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium. Zee Sports is also the host broadcaster
for the entire Asian region for the event and the feed will be going
out to 25 Asian countries.
The AFC U-20 Championship is held every two years and is open to
players under the age of 19. The future stars of Asian football
will be playing in this tournament and most of them will in all
likelihood represent their countries in the 2010 FIFA W.Cup. This
tournament also acts as a qualifying tournament for the FIFA U-20
World Cup.
The top four sides in the AFC Youth Championship will advance
to the FIFA U-20 World Cup to be played in Canada from 30 June 2007
to 22 July 2007. The Korea Republic claimed the AFC Youth Championship
crown in 2004 with a 2-0 win over China in Kuala Lumpur. Countries
competing in this edition of championship are Kyrgyzstan, Jordan,
China, UAE, Thailand, Australia, Japan, North Korea, Iran, Tajikistan,
Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Vietnam and hosts India.
India will be looking up to East Bengal striker Vimal Pariyar, Churchill
Brothers midfield duo of Ong Tshering Lepcha and Th. Nooba Singh
to create the furore.
As hosts of Asia's premier youth tournament India have prepared
meticulously over the last year under veteran Uzbek coach Islam
Akhmedov. In the run up to the preparations for this tournament
the Indian colts have taken part in two major tournaments. The first
was the inaugural AFC Challenge Cup in which they held their own
against senior teams from Afghanistan (2-0), Chinese Taipei (1-1)
and the Philippines (0-0) before going down to Nepal 3-0 in the
quarterfinals. The other tournament was the South Asian Federation
(SAF) Games in Sri Lanka where they drew with Afghanistan (0-0)
and Nepal (1-1) but defeated Bangladesh 2-1 to make the last four.
They went down to Sri Lanka 7-6 on penalties and later lost the
third-fourth-place playoff to Nepal 2-0.
Telecast Schedule of the AFC Youth Championship
| S.No |
Match |
Date |
Venue |
Time
|
| 1.
|
Korea
Republic vs. Jordan |
29
Oct |
Salt
Lake, Kolkata |
15:30
onwards |
| 2. |
India
vs. Kyrgyzthan |
29
Oct |
SaltLake,
Kolkata |
18:30
onwards |
| 3. |
China
PR vs. Australia |
30
Oct |
Salt
Lake, Kolkata |
15:30
onwards |
| 4. |
Thailand
vs. UAE |
30
Oct |
Salt
Lake, Kolkata |
18:30
onwards |
| 5. |
Jordan
vs. India |
31
Oct |
SaltLake,
Kolkata |
15:30
onwards |
| 6. |
Kyrgyzthan
vs. Korea Rep |
31
Oct |
SaltLake,
Kolkata |
18:30
onwards |
| 7. |
Saudi
Arabia vs Malaysia |
1
Nov |
Sree
Kanteerava, Bangalore |
15:30
onwards |
| 8. |
UAE
vs China PR |
1
Nov |
SaltLake,
Kolkata |
18:30
onwards |
| 9. |
Korea
Republic vs India |
2
Nov |
SaltLake,
Kolkata |
14:30
onwards |
| 10. |
China
PR vs Thailand |
3 Nov |
SaltLake,
Kolkata |
14:30
onwards |
| 11. |
Quarter
Finals |
6
Nov |
SaltLake,
Kolkata |
15:30
onwards |
| 12. |
Quarter
Finals |
6
Nov |
SaltLake,
Kolkata |
18:30
onwards |
| 13. |
Semi
Finals |
9 Nov |
SaltLake,
Kolkata |
15:30 onwards |
| 14. |
Semi
Finals |
9 Nov |
SaltLake,
Kolkata |
17:00
onwards |
| 15. |
Third
Place Play Off |
12
Nov |
SaltLake,
Kolkata |
15:30
onwards |
| 16. |
Finals |
12
Nov |
SaltLake,
Kolkata |
17:00
onwards |
Catch all the action live and exclusive on Zee Sports.
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