India go down to Iraq

India were handed a 3-0 defeat by Iraq in their Group E first leg second round Olympic football qualifier in Amman on Wednesday.

India's citadel crumbled in the face of relentless attacks in the second half. After keeping top seeded Iraq at bay in the first half, they let the floodgates open after the breather as Mustafa Karim, Alla Abdul Zahra and Haider Akubi scored a goal each.

Karim opened up the scoring for the Asian Games silver medallists in the 51st minute at the King Abdullah stadium.

In the 68th minute, Zahra gave his team a 2-0 cushion while Haider compounded India's misery with another strike just two minutes later.

India had beaten Myanmar 4-1 in penalty shoot-out at the Salt Lake stadium in Kolkata to reach the second round of the Beijing Olympics qualifiers.