Asian Games to start with men's football tournament

GUANGZHOU - The Guangzhou Asian Games will kick off its first competition calendar on Sunday afternoon when the men's football is to provide several mouthwatering derbies.

Defending champions Qatar will open their campaign against Singapore this night. It will join the other five clash in group D and F on Sunday, which is the prelude of the 16th Asiad to officially open on November 12.

The Qataris will later face Kuwait in a group D Gulf derby. And this time in action in Guangzhou, it will be a new generation of hopefuls for Qatar with none of the squad who won Asiad gold on home soil four years ago. Also in the group Singapore and two-time gold medalists India will try to stand in their way.

Also in the night, Group F throws up an interesting clash, with Thailand, coached by Manchester United legend Bryan Robson, coming up against Pakistan, led by former Tottenham Hotspur defender Graham Roberts. Both are from Britain. Oman and Maldives provide the other opposition.

Elsewhere, another eye-catching derby in the first round will see hosts China face arch rivals Japan in Group A on Monday.

The two football powerhouses in East Asia treat this tournament as an important test for next year's London Olympic qualifiers. And both sides aim to achieve an opening victory for each delegation.

South Korean Park Chu-Young, who played at the World Cup finals in South Africa, will be hoping to help his team to victory against neighbours DPR Korea tomorrow. Palestine and Jordan make up Group C.

Iran, who have the most gold medals in the competition (four) and have won three of the past five tournaments, will look to progress from Group B having been pooled with Vietnam, Bahrain and Turkmenistan.

Group E has dark horse Uzbekistan, who topped Qatar's group in 2006, and United Arab Emirates, fresh from their under-23 Gulf Cup victory over Kuwait in August. Bangladesh and fellow group underdogs Hong Kong, China also aim to be competitive.

The men's football of Asiad is limited to players aged 23 or under. Each team can only allow three wild cards who are exempt from the age restriction. The top two of the six groups and other four best third-placed teams will advance to the last 16.