National Men's Futsal team Coach Farrukh Zakirov has said that he hopes futsal in its truest form will be developed.
The team had practiced under Zakirov's instruction at the mini-turf for a month in preparation for the first SAFF Futsal Championship. The team left for China afterwards for a 10-day indoor training program.
The Maldivian team won dominantly in their first game, with them currently sitting in first.
Zakirov said that with Maldives winning their first two matches, other teams have started taking Maldives seriously. While giving an interview to PSM, he also said that Maldives needs to be wary in their upcoming matches.
"We need to be even more mindful. Reason being that the other teams now know that we are a strong team. And so, we need to work at 100 percent for the upcoming matches," said Zakirov.
Maldives is now being seen as the favorite team in the competition by other countries in the region as well. Zakirov said that Maldives has no other choice but to win.
Uzbekistan Women's National Team Coach Zakirov has said that futsal is being viewed as mini-football in Maldives. He hopes that if the competition is won, the opportunity for futsal to be developed as "real futsal" in Maldives will be there.
"If we win, I think that futsal may develop in Maldives as real futsal (as how it should be). Futsal must not be developed as mini-football. It should be developed as actual futsal," said Zakirov.
Even though Maldives has had many futsal tournaments, none of them have been held indoors. Futsal is known to be an indoor sport.
Zakirov instructed Uzbekistan and helped them qualify for the AFC Women's Futsal Asian Cup, with him stating that he wants an indoor training camp for Maldives' Women's Futsal team and for them to play matches in order to gain experience.
Zakirov will work as Maldives' coach until the end of the championship. After that, he will leave for the Uzbekistan league. The club that he coaches has released him in order for him to coach the Maldivian team until the end of the championship.
