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The upcoming National Games will see a new sport in beach soccer, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) said on Saturday. Notably, the AIFF hosted the inaugural Men’s National Beach Soccer Championships in Surat’s Dumas Beach earlier this year, which has proved to be a game-changer. The top seven sides from the National Championships, along with hosts Goa, will be competing for the title at the games. The eight teams have been clubbed into two groups with Group A comprising Kerala, Delhi, Jharkhand and Lakshadweep and Group B consisting of Punjab, Uttarakhand, Odisha and Goa.
Meanwhile, Bruno Coutinho, who is currently the head coach of Goa’s beach soccer team, expressed his surprise at the sport’s inclusion in the games.
“I was really surprised to see that beach soccer has been included in the National Games for the first time,” he told the AIFF.
“Previously, it was just normal football, but now they have not only included beach soccer, but beach handball as well, so it will be interesting.” AIFF Grassroots Committee chairperson Mulrajsinh Chudasama, who is also the tournament director for the games, has said that the sport will be a huge success.
“I am confident that this is going to be a huge success. There are some challenges ahead.
“This is the high tide time in Goa, but the organisers have done well by putting up sandbags on the beach so that the FoP (field of play) doesn’t get affected.
“The best state teams in the country will fight it out there. It should be highly entertaining,” he said.
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