Khelo India Beach Games: Big wins for Goa, Gujarat, Kerala; non-coastal states stay brave in soccer

Amid the breaking waves of a dazzling Arabian Sea in the background, Goa and Rajasthan featured in the boys’ opening match of the day. There couldn’t have been more contrasting teams, and the match, 13-9 in favour of the Goans, validated that point.

Goa is a full of beaches while Rajasthan has none. Which means, the Goans were kind of at home and the Rajasthanis were at sea. Which leads to the question: are the non-coastal regions going to find it tough at KIBG 2025? Not necessarily since last year in the Diu Beach Games it was actually Madhya Pradesh, a non-coastal state, that ran away with most medals. But of course, there will be challenges.

Rajasthan team manager Hari Om listed the set of challenges his team faced in the lead-up to the KIBG. "It’s not that easy for us, a non-coastal state. I mean we practice on an artificial field of play back in Rajasthan. What we do is get tons of sands on trucks from southern Rajasthan but do what we will, this sand is so different from the one which we use for our practice.

"We started very well against Goa but then we got tired and they pounced on us. Going forward we need to focus on this aspect, stamina. We also need to focus on proper hydration. One of the players today fell sick. So, these are the challenges a non-coastal team like us faces," he said.

Uttar Pradesh girls coach Mukesh Kumar Sabberwal echoed the sentiments even though they got their campaign off to a good start. "We practice on grass, not even sands. Today we won against the girls’ team of Rajasthan which is also a non-coastal state but once we go up against coastal teams, that will be a totally different ball game," he said.

Sabberwal has strong reasons to fear but what about the coastal teams? What do they feel in the lead-up to their matches against non-coastal teams? Goa goalkeeper and captain Pratik Kankonkar satisfied the curiosity. "When we play against non-coastal teams, we know we will win somehow. We are beach boys, familiar with the sand and sea, so we are always confident against these teams. We should have won this match with a bigger margin though," he said.

For the uninitiated, beach soccer is different from the soccer that’s played on grass turf. For one thing, there are five players a side. For another, it’s a much shorter game with three periods of 12 minutes each. There are eight states each in the boys’ and girls’ categories and they are divided into two pools, and the top two teams from each pool will reach the semis.