Haiyang, China: The draw for the beach soccer tournament of the 3rd Asian Beach Games was held at the International Conference Centre on Wednesday morning and was attended by Gao Jingtao, Deputy Mayor of Haiyang Municipal Government, along with other dignitaries.

Fifteen teams have entered the popular beach soccer tournament, which will take place at Zone D of Fengxiang Beach, in front of the OCA HQ hotel, and run from June 16-21. The draw was conducted by Technical Delegate Alex Soriano, Head of Communications and TV for Beach Soccer Worldwide.

The organising committee seeded four teams at the top of each of the four groups, with host country China in Group A and Oman in Group B, United Arab Emirates in Group C and Iran in Group D based on the Asian beach soccer rankings.

Defending ABG champions UAE will meet two Gulf rivals in Group C, with Bahrain and “Athletes from Kuwait” alongside Lebanon.

With 15 teams, Group B will have only three teams.

Group A: China, Vietnam, Palestine, Afghanistan.
Group B: Oman, Syria, Iraq.
Group C: UAE, Bahrain, Lebanon, Athletes from Kuwait.
Group D: Iran, Japan, Thailand, Qatar.

At the 2010 ABG in Muscat, UAE beat host Oman in the final to take the gold medal, winning a penalty shootout after a 2-2 draw. Iran beat China 6-1 to take the bronze.

There is no women’s soccer tournament at the 3rd Asian Beach Games.