India in pot 3 for official draw for AFC U-16 Championship

India qualified for the U-16 finals when they finished as Group B champions in Tashkent from a group which had Uzbekistan (hosts), Bahrain and Turkmenistan. The Indian colts finished with seven points from three matches scoring 10 goals, while conceding 1.

This is India's third consecutive qualification in the AFC U-16 finals, and ninth overall.

"We are eagerly looking forward to the draw. The boys gave a good account of themselves when they qualified above Uzbekistan that too in Uzbekistan in the Qualifiers. It's time for them to show their character and gear themselves for sterner tests in the future," head coach Bibiano Fernandes stated.

The current batch will head to the Championship in Bahrain on back of some amazing results last year that saw them net score a whopping 28 goals (without conceding any from five matches on their way to the SAFF U-15 Championship title. The team currently stay unbeaten in eight international matches.

In 2018, the U-16 boys stayed a win away from a direct qualification into the FIFA U-17 World Cup when they lost to Korea Republic by a solitary goal in the quarterfinals. That was India's second entry into the quarterfinals, the earlier being in 2002.