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The tournament returns on Thursday with Danang hosting the continent’s premier beach soccer talent.
The best teams in Asia get ready for the battle in Danang (Vietnam) with the medals in sight. As of tomorrow, the upcoming Asian Beach Games will stage again the continent’s best sides, squaring off in the fifth edition of the Pan Asian Olympic Festival.
The event officially runs from September 24th until October 3rd, although beach soccer – which features among 13 other sports as well as 22 disciplines and 172 on the east coast of Vietnam – begins earlier.
Holders Iran will not take part in this edition due to a decission by the Olympic Committee of Iran, wherea other former winners Oman and the UAE will look to increase their records in the competiton.
“I am confident that if we have good preparations for Vietnam, we will be able to finish among the top three teams,” Oman coach Talib Hilal told the Muscat Daily recently.
“My target is to regain the gold.”
However, last year’s finalists Japan and Iran will be tipped by many to lift the trophy this time around.
The pair are the continent’s highest ranked nations, with Iran coming into the event off the back of victory at the Continental Beach Soccer Tournament in Ordos in August.
Iran clinched the title with a 6-3 win against Oman in the warm-up event while Japan finished third thanks to a 5-1 play-off win against China.
Since then, Marcelo Mendes’ side have also picked up two friendly wins over Tahiti as Asia’s sides begin to look ahead to qualification for the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup.
Three teams will progress from the continent and compete in the Bahamas next year, with the Asian Beach Games likely to serve as both an ideal warm-up for countries and a signpost as to the main qualification contenders.
Asian Beach Games 2016 – Beach Soccer
Group A: Vietnam, Thailand, Laos
Group B: Oman, Qatar, Lebanon
Group C: UAE, Uzbekistan, Palestine
Group D: Japan, China, Afghanistan
