December 7: Five football players of Odisha returned home today after representing India in the Round-II Qualifiers of the AFC U-19 Women`s Championship at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The five are: Subhaprava Rout, Rachita Malik, Tikina Samal, Kausalya Barik and Sinulata sahoo.

The India team lost all three of their league matches and failed to qualify for the final phase to be held next year. They lost to Chinese Taipei 0-7 in their opening match on Dec 1, went down 0-10 to hosts Vietnam in the second on Dec 4 and then 0-8 to Myanmaar in the last on Dec 5.

India had earlier qualified for the Second-Round Qualifiers by finishing ahead of strong contenders Uzbekistan and Bangladesh in the Round-I Qualifying held in Melaka, Malaysia in October earlier this year.