Shillong, Apr 17: After weeks spent training for this moment, Klingson Marak has been selected in the final squad of the Indian men’s blind football team that will participate at the IBSA Asian Men’s Blind Football Championship 2026.
The tournament will take place in Osaka, Japan, from 19th to 25th April.
The squad was announced by the Indian Blind Football Federation yesterday.
Klingson, a Kiang Nangbah Awardee in 2023, is a regular in the Indian blind football team. Last year he scored a hat-trick against Uzbekistan and he also led Meghalaya to a fourth national title.
In blind football, a five-a-side game, all players except the goalkeeper are blindfolded and are assisted by a coach and a goal guide. The players are guided by the sound of the ball, which contains bells. The goalkeeper, goal guide (who stays behind the opposite goal) and the coach (who runs along the side of the pitch) are the three sighted assistants who call out and direct the players to move with the ball and to shoot.
India squad: Pradeep Patel (Delhi), Klingson Marak (Meghalaya), Tushar Kumar (Uttar Pradesh), Sovendra Singh (Uttarakhand), Boje Marbom (Arunachal Pradesh), Sahil (Uttarakhand), Sujith PS (Kerala, Goalkeeper)
Officials: Aditya Sajwan (Goal Guide), Sunil J Mathew (Head Coach), Diethozo Yhoho (Assistant Coach/Physio)
(Photo: Blind Football India/Facebook)