KOCHI: The Indian Blind Football Federation will host the upcoming International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) Blind Football Asia/Oceania Championship at United Sports Centre in Kochi from November 11 to 18, 2022. M C Roy, project director, announced the championship at a press meet held at Crowne Plaza in Kochi on Saturday. He gave a general introduction to the championship, and the sporting director and national coach of the Indian team Sunil J Mathew gave a detailed explanation.
“The Asia Oceania championship will have a women’s edition for the first time involving two nations — Japan and India, with both teams pre-qualifying for the IBSA World Championships 2023 in Birmingham, UK. The men’s tournament will feature 10 teams, including India, and will be qualifiers for the Paris Paralympics 24 and the top four nations qualifying for the IBSA World Championships in 2023 at Birmingham, “said Sunil.
The participating nations include Japan, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Iran, China, India, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Australia, who will be making their debut in the tournament. The tournament will have nearly 30 matches, with referees and classifiers from across the world. The matches will all be streamed live online on digital platforms in collaboration with the IBF Foundation Japan, the broadcast partner for the event.