China's national team secures third place at the IBSA Blind Football World Championships that ended in Madrid, Spain on June 18. (Photo/CCTV)
(ECNS) - Chinese fans may have been disappointed not to compete in the 2018 World Cup in Russia, but a national team has secured third place at the IBSA Blind Football World Championships that ended in Madrid, Spain on June 18.
The championships, held from June 5 to June 18, included 16 teams from China, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Russia, Britain, France, Morocco, Costa Rica, Iran, South Korea, Thailand, Mali and Turkey.
The Chinese team won the Asian regional championships held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia last year to qualify for the world championships.
China won all its matches in the group competitions, beating South Korea 2-0, Mexico 1-0 and Russia 1-0. In the quarter-finals, despite the absence of a main player due to injury, the Chinese team defeated Morocco to reach the semi-final. China lost to Brazil with a goal in the semi-final.
In the match for third place, China beat Russia with a score of 2-1. Team captain Wei Jiansen won the tournament’s fair-play prize and was also selected as best player for the competition.
The youngest member on the team, newly formed after the Rio Paralympic Games in 2016, is just over 18 years old while the oldest is 27, the average age being 24.
