- DIU — The inaugural Khelo India Beach Games 2025 (KIBG) at the Ghoghla beach in
Diu got rolling on Monday with beach soccer taking centerstage on day one of
the event.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- 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.
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- "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.
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