India went down to Turkmenistan 0-2 in a first-leg match in the first round Asian pre-Olympic football qualifiers, for the 2004 Athens Olympics, at Ashkhabad in Turkmenistan, on Saturday.

The defeat jolted India's chances of a place in the second round, where the winner of the tie plays Malaysia.

The Indian under-23 team now faces a tough task when it meets Turkmenistan in the return match in at Goa on April 19.

In a keenly-contested match, which remained goaless till the last quarter, Azad Mohadov put the hosts ahead in the 75th minute before a penalty-kick, converted by Karimov, in injury time made the scoreline 2-0.

The Indian team: Sangram Mukherjee, Arun Malhotra, Satish Bharti (captain), Vinu Jose, Dipankar Roy, Sukhwinder Singh (Harpreet Singh), Jatin Singh Bisht (Ishfaq Ahmed), Manitombi Singh, Tomba Singh, Asim Biswas, Alex Ambrose (Sheikh Sanjeeb).

PTI

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What do you think about the story? Read what others have to say: Number of User Comments: 4 Sub: wake up this isnt lousy cricket Since the pathetic comment writers below dont watch any game apart from the sleep-inducing game of cricket, they cant be expected to know about a ... Posted by Anurag Mathur Sub: name of the game Why? The name of the game is clearly mentioned as football, what's the problem? Posted by a.dasgupta Sub: name of the sport not mentioned a wierd article.....doesn't mention the sport....I think its football, since it mentioned a penalty kick. but still, the article should clearly state the name of ... Posted by Giro Bhai Sub: lack of qualitative journalism Your news reporter didnt even mention which sport is it??!!! What is it finally? Soccer, hockey or frisby??!! Posted by Viva