Brunei's Local News - Brudirect.com

Bandar Seri Begawan - Brunei Darussalam national beach soccer team and futsal team are hoping to get good results in their respective competitions end of this month.

The national beach soccer team will be heading to Johor Bahru for the Des aru 2008 Beach Soccer Tournamen,t from Aug 26-30 while the national futsal team will be leaving for Bangkok for the AFF Futsal Championship 2008 to be held from Aug 27-31.

According to Awang Raini bin Kassim of national beach soccer team: We have high hopes of winning the competition in Malaysia."

"Beach soccer is not a new sport in the country. The sport has a long history since 2002. Currently, there are five beach training grounds for our team and we have been training hard for the competition."

Awang Raini also revealed that all the Asean member countries except Singapore are taking part in the competition together with Oman, an invited team.

Meanwhile Hj Mohd Yunos, the coach of national futsal team in an interview said: "We are eyeing for at least a semifinal place at the AFF Futsal Championship 2008. However we have to defeat Vietnam in our first game in order to reach our goal."

Hj Mohd Yunos also revealed that the team which comprised players from as young as 18 years old, have been on training from Aug 6 to prepare for the competition

The team for Bangkok consists of players from last year's Borneo Games gold medal team and also players selected from various tournaments.

Brunei is placed in Group B with favourite Malaysia, Laos, Vietnam while Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia and Myanmar are in Group A.

It's the fifth time Brunei Darussalam are participating in the AFF Futsal Championship and the best finish was in 2005 where they were third.

Yesterday afternoon, Awang Haji Zamri bin Dato Paduka Hj Hamdani, the Senior Special Duties Officer of Youth and Sports Department presented the national flag to both the national beach soccer team and futsal team in a ceremony at the Hassanal Bolkiah National Stadium

Awang Haji Zamri in his welcoming address said: “I believe that all the necessary preparation has been done and all the players chosen are the best."

He hoped that both teams will get a good result that could be used as a benchmark in supporting the sports in future. Also present at the ceremony were Pengiran Hj Md Yusof bin Pg Hj Bahar and Pengiran Haji Metusin bin Pg Hj Metassan of BAFA. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin