India football team to play in Turkish Womens Cup

New Delhi, Feb 15 (IANS) The Indian senior women's team will be embarking on an exposure tour to Turkey where they will be playing in the Turkish Womens Cup from February 27, it was announced on Friday.India have been clubbed with Romania, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan in Group A, while France, Jordan, Northern Ireland, and hosts Turkey make up Group B.Every team will play each other in the group once with the group-toppers making it to the final. There will also be matches for the 3rd and the 4th slot, the 5th and the 6th slot, and the 7th and the 8th places.The tournament is part of India's preparations for the AFC Olympic Qualifiers Round 2 (in April) and also the SAFF Women's Championship scheduled in March.Since January, the girls have played seven International matches which include their exposure tours to Hong Kong and Indonesia, and the Hero Gold Cup in Bhubaneswar.National Team Director Abhishek Yadav, also a former national team captain mentioned that "playing more matches will make the girls more confident"."The girls have already played in seven international matches since January. At the Turkish Women's Gold Cup, we are guaranteed of another four matches. The tournament will further help to assess the areas we need to stress upon in the Olympic qualifiers, and also in the SAFF Championship," he maintained.
--IANS gau/ab