The Chinese Blind Football National Team is one of the strongest teams in the world. In the 2008 Beijing Paralympic Games, the team were undefeated throughout the Football 5-a-side competition until they finally lost to Brazil 2-1 in the gold medal match and picked up silver.

China reached the IBSA Blind Football Asian Championship Final in Toyko (Japan) to qualify for last year’s Rio Paralympic Games, where they finished in 5th place.
 
On 8th June, China held national blind football championship in Shenyang for a week. The event was hosted by the China Disabled Persons' Federation, China Paralympic Committee, Liaoning Province Disabled Persons' Federation and Liaoning Provincial Sports Bureau. 

Caption: a player shapes to shoot during one of the matches.

Twelve blind football teams from Beijing, Inner Mongolia, Fujian, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Liaoning Province and other areas of the country were involved in the tournament, which tallied a total of 173 players participating. The championships were a prime opportunity to select players from the wide talent pool for the IBSA Blind Football Asian Championships in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia) this December and plan a development project around the selected players for the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games.
 
Football Championship Technical Representative Liu Baohua said that “many of the national team athletes who participated in the Rio Paralympic Games chose to retire because of age and injury, and one of the important purposes of this competition was to select outstanding athletes to prepare for the Asian Championships in Malaysia this December”.

Click here for more information on the championships.