Indian team withdrawn from AFC Women's Asian Cup

As a consequence of India's abandonment of its AFC Women's Asian Cup contest against Chinese Taipei, the team has had to be withdrawn from the competition.

REPRESENTATIVE IMAGE: India couldn't play the match against Chinese Taipei due to a COVID-19 outbreak within the squad.

A spurt of COVID-19 cases in the camp forced host India to withdraw from the AFC Women's Asian Cup.

A day after it failed to field a team against Chinese Taipei , the AFC issued a statement confirming that India "is considered to have withdrawn" from the tournament as per the guidelines.

"It is noted that the India women’s national team was unable to register a minimum of 13 players (including one goalkeeper) in the player selection list and startlist for the match between Chinese Taipei and India," the AFC said. Accordingly, Article 4.1 of the Special Rules Applicable to AFC Competitions during Covid-19 pandemic special rules applied.

"In view of the above, India was unable to participate in the match, is to be held responsible for the match not taking place and is considered as to have withdrawn from the Competition," the AFC said.

"Applying Article 6.5.5 of the Competition Regulations, all matches of India are cancelled and considered null and void. For the avoidance of doubt, all points and goals in those matches shall not be taken into consideration when determining the final rankings in the group pursuant to Article 7.3," the AFC said.

In addition, in accordance with Article 7.4 of the competition regulations only three participating teams will now be participating in Group A of the competition.