Hyderabad, India -- Uncertainty over participation of the African teams forced the Afro-Asian Games organisers to postpone the football tournament by a day.

Rwanda and Ghana, who were scheduled to play the opening matches against India and Malaysia on Tuesday, failed to arrive here on Monday, forcing the postponement. The AIFF secretary Alberto Colaco said that the tournament will now start from Wednesday. He also informed that matches will also take place on Friday, initially assigned as the rest day. India coach Stephen Constantine feels any further change would put their preparation into disarray.

League Fixtures

Oct 22: India vs Rwanda, Malaysia vs Ghana; Oct. 23: Zimbabwe vs Burkina Faso, Iran vs Uzbekistan; Oct. 24: India vs Malaysia; Rwanda vs Ghana; Oct. 25: Zimbabwe vs Iran, Burkina Faso vs Uzbekistan; Oct. 26: Ghana vs India, Rwanda vs Malaysia, Oct 27: Uzbekistan vs Zimbabwe, Burkina Faso vs Iran.