Thu, 28 Oct, 2021
Incheon: AFC Futsal Championship 2012 winners Japan began their quest for gold at the 2013 Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games with a 3-0 win over Saudi Arabia in the first round of group stage matches.
AFC Futsal Player of the Year Rafael Henmi opened the scoring in the 14th minute before second period goals from Kazuhiro Nibuya (25th) and Shunta Uchimura (39th) sealed the Group F win for the Asian champions.
Thailand, runners-up to Japan at last year’s Asian finals, made a blistering start to their Group B campaign as they hammered Bhutan 29-1 while ten-time winners Iran also racked up the goals as they won 13-0 in their Group D curtain-raiser against 2012 AFC Futsal Championship hosts the UAE.
Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games 2013 hosts Korea Republic were also big winners in the first round of matches as the East Asians eased to a 9-1 win over Macau while Kuwait had to work considerably harder for their opening Group A victory as the FIFA 2013 Futsal World Cup participants had to come from 2-0 down to defeat Hong Kong 4-2 after So Sheung Kwan had scored twice inside the first 12 minutes.
Lebanon scored three times in the final minute to put the gloss on a 11-4 win over Group C rivals Palestine while three-time AFC Futsal Championship runners-up Uzbekistan, also enjoyed a double-digit victory as they kicked-off Group G with a 10-2 win over Afghanistan.
In the remaining first round fixture China defeated neighbours Chinese Taipei to make a winning start to Group E.