Everything is ready at the Tun Razak Hockey Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as the IBSA Blind Football Asian Championships KL 2017 get underway.

Six teams are looking to win the title of Asian Champions and book a slot at next year’s world championships in Madrid, Spain. The teams have been drawn into two groups of three, with the top two teams in each pool progressing to Saturday’s semi-finals.

Group A
 
China
Japan
Thailand
 
Group B
 
Iran
Korea
Malaysia
 
All matches will be streamed live on Facebook by R.AGE.
 
Four times champions China and Thailand will have the honour of getting the ball rolling tomorrow morning as play begins, with the inaugural match kicking off at 09:30 local time. Reigning champions Iran and Korea will open group B at 11:30.
 
Match schedule

12th December
09:30 China v Thailand
11:30 Iran v Korea

13th December
09:30 Iran v Malaysia
11:30 China v Japan

14th December
09:30 Japan v Thailand
11:30 Korea v Malaysia

15th December
Rest day

16th December
09:30 Semi-final 1
11:30 Semi-final 2

17th December
9:30 5th-6th place play-off
11:30 3rd-4th place play-off
16:00 Final
17:30 Closing Ceremony

Caption: IBSA officials, LOC staff members and team representatives pose for a group photo after the technical meeting. 

The IBSA Blind Football Asian Championships KL 2017 are the seventh such championships in the continent. The event is hosted by the Malaysian Blind Sports Association.

IBSA Blind Football Asian Championships – history of the tournament

Year     Venue                                          Champions
2005     Ho Chi Minh (Vietnam)                 Japan
2007     Seoul (South Korea)                     China
2009     Tokyo (Japan)                               China
2011     Sendai (Japan)                             China
2013     Beijing (China)                              China
2015     Tokyo (Japan)                               Iran
2017     Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)

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Caption: ​Poster for the IBSA Blind Football Asian Championships KL 2017.