Panaji: The All India Football Federation (AIFF) heaved a sigh of relief as eight national team players were granted visas to travel to Hong Kong, after waiting for more than two weeks. India play Hong Kong in a crucial AFC Asian Cup 2027 qualifier on June 10. Indian passport holders can travel to Hong Kong visa-free for up to 14 days but a pre-arrival registration form must be filled online before landing in the country. According to sources, the AIFF applied online for the pre-arrival registration on May 18 with a majority of the 28 players and 14 officials getting their applications cleared in quick time. On May 28, the team was scheduled to travel to Thailand for an international friendly, and they did with eight players, including captain Sandesh Jhingan, unsure about making the onward trip to Hong Kong. “The applications kept coming back for eight players and we didn’t know what to do,” said a senior AIFF official. “We wrote to the ministry of external affairs and then the President (Kalyan Chaubey) had to speak with the concerned ministries to ensure that all players got the visas.” The visas for the eight players which included Jhingan, Amrinder Singh, Subhashish Bose, Manvir Singh, Ashish Rai, Anwar Ali, Gurmeet Singh and Mehtab Singh were finally issued on Tuesday, 15 days after their first application.Thailand cruise past India India were left with plenty of work to do for next week’s all-important qualifier against Hong Kong after losing the friendly 2-0 against Thailand at the Thammasat Stadium in Pathum Thani on Wednesday. Benjamin Davis (8’) and Poramet Arjvilai (59’) scored in either half for Thailand as the hosts capitalised on the space and time that was afforded to them by India’s defence. Davis, who featured for ASEAN All-Stars against Manchester United in a friendly last week, picked the top corner from inside the box, while Arjvilai saw goalkeeper Vishal Kaith slightly off his line and made no mistake with a shot that dipped perfectly. India gradually grew into the game and created chances of their own. Sunil Chhetri sliced through the Thailand defence with a perfect ball for Liston Colaco in first-half stoppage time, but the forward could not get past the goalkeeper from a one-to-one position. All through the game, Indian players got themselves into decent positions but lacked the finishing touch with Liston, Chhetri, Ashique Kuruniyan and Lallianzuala Chhangte all going close from inside the box. India now travel to Hong Kong on Thursday for their crucial AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027 final round qualifier on June 10.
