India suffered a cruel twist of fate on Wednesday in Aichi-Nagoya after Mongolia’s no-show in a decisive group-stage match saw the eFootball team of Danial Patel and Chinmay Sahoo get eliminated, ending their medal hopes at the 2026 Asian Games .
Uzbekistan Dominates Early Matches in Campaign
Patel and Sahoo started their campaign with a 0-0 draw against Uzbekistan. Following this, Uzbekistan showcased their strength by defeating Mongolia with scores of 6-3 and 12-0 in both mobile and console games. This impressive performance has resulted in a significant positive goal difference of +15 for Uzbekistan.
“We were told we could pay $500 for a judge panel check. Because it was recorded as a 0-0 forfeit win, India gained no goal-difference advantage, resulting in their elimination as Uzbekistan progressed from Group F, but.
India’s console player Sahoo told The Bridge that India did protest the decision, but it led nowhere. “We protested and said that we want to play the games instead of a forfeit win, but they [officials] said a forfeit win is what the rules say,” he said. “The thing is $500 is kind of a waste of money, because they have mentioned that coming late is a forfeit according to the rules,” he added. “Unless they gave us a 3-0, 3-0 walkover with a +6 goal difference, we were not qualifying.”
Uzbekistan’s results meant India needed a strong result against Mongolia to progress to the knockouts and keep their medal hopes alive. But the Mongolian team failed to report within the stipulated check-in time, arriving three minutes late and resulting in a forfeit. Under the tournament rules, India were awarded the win, tying them with Uzbekistan on points in Group F.
