Thailand edge out struggling India

Chennai, Mar 14 (UNI) India suffered their second defeat with a pathetic display to go down by a solitary goal (0-1) in Group E Pre-Olympic men's qualifying round match for the 2008 Beijing Olympics at the Nehru Stadium here today.

In the Under 23 contest, the Thai's spearheaded by their junior world cup striker Teeratep Winothai and playmaker Piyachart Thamaphan sealed the contest as early as in the ninth minute.

After a few initial forays by both the teams, the Thais, cheered on by some local Thai fans, went into the lead with a lovely move on the left flank through Teeratep.

Piyachar fed him with a long ball. The Indian goalkeeper Subrata Paul, who had survived many a nightmarish moments under the bar, managed to get his hands to the ball. But it rolled off into the right corner of the net.

The goal turned out to be the decider in the match as for the rest of the match, it was a tale of missed opportunities for both sides with the Thais exhibiting better ball control and football skills.

India, who had come close to scoring on a few occasions, either shot off the target through strikers Sushilkumar Singh and Gouramangi Singh, fed by medio Syed Rahim Nabi and paid the price.

For the Thais it was a well-earned win to keep them in the race for a place in the final round of qualifying matches, after their loss to North Korea earlier.

For India, it was another disastrous defeat after the 0-3 loss to Iraq in the away match last month. India will next play Korea here on March 28.

UNI