Indian football team begins training in Doha after testing negative for COVID-19

Doha: All 28 players and support staff of the Indian football team have tested negative for COVID-19 after their arrival in Qatar and started training for their qualifying upcoming matches in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023, slated to be played from June 3.

The team, which arrived in Doha on Wednesday evening, was under compulsory quarantine and waiting for the results of their RT-PCR tests before starting their preparatory camp.

'Gearing-up for the challenges ahead. The BlueTigers had their training first training session in Doha, Qatar last night,” the AIFF said in a tweet, along with pictures of training of players under head coach Igor Stimac.

The team will have a preparatory camp inside a bio-bubble here before its first match.

India who are currently on 3 points from 5 matches in Group E are scheduled to play Asian Champions Qatar on June 3, Bangladesh on June 7, and Afghanistan on June 15 with all three matches to be played at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium, Doha.

The matches are being played in Doha in view of the COVID-19 pandemic which doesn’t allow the original format of home and away matches.

The preparatory camp was originally slated to happen in Kolkata from May 2 onwards till the second wave of the covid pandemic forced a cancellation.

The players and the support had left the country on Wednesday after undergoing RT-PCR tests prior to flying off to Doha from New Delhi.(UNI)