Mohammed akram

AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup: The Indian beach soccer national team suffered a 0-3 defeat against hosts Thailand in the opening match of Group A in the AFC Beach Soccer Asian Cup 2025 at the Jomtien Beach Arena in Pattaya on Thursday.

Making their first appearance at the Beach Soccer Asian Cup since 2007, India began on a good note, holding the more fancied hosts goalless in an evenly-contested first period and creating a handful of chances. But ultimately, Thailand's experience prevailed as they overpowered the Indians in the second and third periods, scoring in the 21st (Jake Stoten), 29th (Ratthaphong Nadee) and 33rd (Komkrit Nanan) minutes. A beach soccer match consists of three periods of 12 minutes each.

India will face Kuwait in the second match on Saturday. Kuwait went down 4-5 to Lebanon in their first game earlier in the day. The top two teams from the group will qualify for the quarter-finals.