Within the preparation for the 5th Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games the draw was held for the futsal tournament.The national team of Turkmenistan which acts in group "A", will compete with teams from Vietnam, Taipei (China), Hong Kong (China) and Solomon Islands.
It should be noted that in the Ashgabat 2017 the futsal tournament is one of the most anticipated ones.Before the toss-up ceremony chief executive officer of the Ashgabat 2017 James Bulley told its participants about stories of creation of the official image of the Games alabai called Wepaly and also presented an official ball which will be used during the futsal competitions.
In futsal competitions the female national team of Turkmenistan at the group stage will meet teams from Thailand and Palestine.In the men's tournament 18 of declared national teams were divided into 2 groups by 4 teams and 2 groups by 5 teams.
Winners and those who have won second places in a group tournament will continue competition in the quarterfinal.Four teams - winners of quarterfinals will act in the semi-finals, winners of which will meet in the finals and compete for gold and silver medals and losing teams will play for bronze awards.
Selection among men's teams passed taking into account of medal rating of the futsal championship organised by the Asian Football Confederation in Uzbekistan in 2016.The group "B" included teams of Uzbekistan, China, Afghanistan, the United Arab Emirates and the Maldives and Group "C" - Thailand, Japan, Libya and Indonesia.
Group "D" was made up of national teams of Iran, Kyrgyzstan, Jordan and Tahiti.In futsal tournaments among women 9 teams were divided into 3 groups by 3 teams.
Winners from each group and plus the teams which have taken the two first lines in groups at the qualifying round, will be allowed for the semi-finals.Winners of the semi-finals will compete for gold and silver medals.
The losing teams will meet in the match for the bronze.The qualifying round among women's teams passed taking into account the medal rating of the futsal championship, organised by the Asian Football Confederation in Malaysia in 2015.
The Group "B" was made up of teams of Iran, Hong Kong (China) and Indonesia, and Group "C" - Japan, China and Vietnam.Turkmen sportsmen will have to face rather tough meetings in group competitions.
First of all, they will have to withstand the national team of Japan which is a repeated futsal champion of Asia and the participant of several world championships where masters of the leather ball from the land of the rising sun have achieved good results.
But despite it, experts predict that contenders of the national team of Turkmenistan are expected to meet serious repulse from our team which undergoes an intensified preparation at the international trainings.
Futsal matches at the 5th Asian indoor and martial arts games will pass in the multipurpose sports complex on September 16-22 and September 24-26.The finals among women will take place on September 25, among men - on September 26.