Indian Football: Women's team crashes out of Olympic qualifiers despite fighting draw

The Indian Women's Football Team failed to qualify for the final round of the Olympic Qualification Tournament, after a 3-3 draw against hosts Myanmar meant that the Blue Tigresses crashed out of their group on goal difference.

Sandhiya Ranganathan opened the scoring for India, after Ratanbala Devi won the ball high up the field, and set up the striker to score.

Win Theingi Tun equalised for the hosts soon after, through a header. She then proceeded to give Myanmar the lead after scoring off the rebound when Linthoingambi Devi saved a penalty. It looked a little like a foul on the 'keeper from the rebound, but the referee was unmoved. The referee could have come in for stick for the decision to award the penalty too, as it looked like Jabamani Tudu had made minimal contact on the Myanmar attacker.

Despite dominating the proceedings for most of the first half, Myanmar went into the break level, after an awful mix-up in their defensive area. Ratanbala once again got her foot in, and then Sandhiya chested the ball down for Sanju Yadav to slot the ball home into an empty net.

The second half followed much the same pattern as the first, with Myanmar holding the advantage, both in terms of territory and possession.

But then, up stepped Ratanbala, with an absolutely superb finish. Dalima Chhibber and Dangmei Grace combined superbly on the right before playing Ratanbala in. Her shot was superbly struck, and left the Myanmar custodian clasping at thin air, as it went over her head.

Win Theingi Tun then completed her hat-trick with a superb finish when one-on-one with Linthoingambi, to cap off a superb team move.

India had a sensational chance in the last few minutes of the game, when Sanju stole a march on the Myanmar defence, and was one-on-one with the 'keeper but her strike was sensationally saved, and that put paid to India's chances of making it to the next round.

Myanmar finished with seven points and a goal difference of +8, whereas the Indians finished with a goal difference of +4. Both teams beat Nepal 3-1, but Myanmar's 6-0 drubbing of minnows Indonesia made all the difference; India only managed a 2-0 win over the Indonesians.