Canberra: Tuesday, January 9, 2006

Futsal nationals off and running


The Australian National Futsal Championships are underway in Canberra following yesterday’s opening ceremony at the AIS.

The ACT Minister for Sport Andrew Barr began proceedings introducing the tournament and welcoming it back to the ACT.

The 28th National Futsal Championships were then announced to be officially open by Football Federation Australia’s Manager of Football Services - Alan Vessey.

Unfortunately Craig Foster was unable to attend the ceremony due to family circumstances.

A number of curtain raiser games kicked off the tournament last night including the Youth Mens ACT Cobras team taking on the NSW Thunder which ended in a one all draw.

In the Open Women’s game the NSW Thunder proved to be too strong for Victoria taking out the game 3 goals to 1.

In today’s fixtures the ACT Open Men’s teams begin their tournament campaigns at the Southern Cross Basketball Stadium in Tuggeranong with main games including:

- ACT Cobras v NSW Lightning at 12.00pm
- WA Pumas v ACT Cobras at 2.15pm
- South Coast NSW A v ACT U’23 Cobras at 3.00pm
- South Coast NSW B v ACT Colts at 3.45pm
- ACT Colts v Victoria at 6.45pm
- ACT U’23 Cobras v NSW Lightning at 7.30pm
- QLD Crusaders v ACT Cobras at 8.15pm

In the Open Women’s division at the MPOWER Dome in Chisholm today games will include:

- Northern NSW v ACT Cobras at 4.45pm
- ACT Cobras v QLD Vikings at 8.30pm


The Youth Women’s and Men’s divisions are also being played today and throughout the week at the MPOWER Dome in Chisholm.


Youth Women:

- Qld Vikings v ACT Cobras at 6.15pm


For International action the Solomon Island and New Zealand under 14’s teams will be playing at the Lyneham Netball Centre throughout the week.



Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com