Dubai: Iraq’s withdrawal means the UAE has been switched from Group E to Group C of the Asian Games football tournament, which kicks off in Indonesia next week.

Instead of facing South Korea, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia and Bahrain and kicking off on August 10, Maciej Skorza’s side will now play Syria, East Timor and China, kicking off at the later date of August 14 against Syria before playing East Timor on August 16 and China on August 19.

This is the third time the draw has been made after the UAE and Palestine were initially omitted from the original draw due to a computer glitch.