National League champions Three Star Club defeated Erchim FC of Mongolia in the AFC Cup playoff qualifiers match in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, on Sunday.

Three Star’s foreign recruit Martin opened the scoring in the 15^th minute while Bikram Lama added another in the 72^nd minute.

Three Star will play their second match against Nagaland FC of Combodia on Tuesday.

Dordoi Dynamo of Kyrgyzstan, Casa Benfica of Macau and Rovers FC of Guam are in Group ‘A’, while FC Tertons of Bhutan, Sheikh Russel KC Ltd of Bangladesh and Tatung FC of Chinese Taipei are in Group ‘C’. Group winners from each three pool will enter the playoff stage of the competition.

The AFC Cup is contested by the ‘A’ Division League winners of the emerging football countries in Asia. Although Nepal were supposed to send Martyrs Memorial ‘A’ Division League winners, the All Nepal Football Association (Anfa) was unable to hold the league. The country’s football governing body had decided to send the National League winners for the AFC Cup instead.