They had exited Asian Games with just one goal scored in the group stage. And it was the same predicament for the Indian women’s team as their hopes of making the next round of AFC Olympic Qualifiers were dashed with a 1-3 defeat to Vietnam, despite a fightback in the later stages that saw substitute Sandhiya Ranganathan hitting the net for India’s first strike of the Round 2 of the qualifiers in Tashkent on Sunday.
While they still have a match to play, against hosts Uzbekistan, the Blue Tigresses are out of contention for qualification having lost their opener against world No. 8 Japan by a huge 0-7 margin. It will be a bitter end to Thomas Dennerby’s aspirations for the Indian team, having asked his wards to “keep the Olympic dream burning” despite the loss to the former World Cup winners.
