India goes down to Bangladesh in SAFF Futsal Championship
India’s women’s futsal team suffered a 1-3 defeat to Bangladesh in their second match of the SAFF Women’s Futsal Championship 2026 in Bangkok. Bangladesh captain Sabina Khatun scored twice, while Sumaya Matsushima added a third to seal the win.
Hyderabad: The Indian women’s futsal team went down 1-3 against Bangladesh in their second outing of the SAFF Women’s Futsal Championship 2026 at the Hua Mak Indoor Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, on Thursday.
Bangladesh captain Sabina Khatun (7’, 13’) scored a brace while Sumaya Matsushima sealed the victory with a goal in the 31st minute. For India, Arya More reduced the margin with a 37th-minute consolation goal.
Coming into the match on the back of a historic first-ever international win against Maldives, the 86th-ranked India knew they were facing a far tougher challenge against a Bangladesh side ranked 44th in the world. Despite the gulf in experience and ranking, the Futsal Tigresses began brightly and created the first clear chance of the game.
Khushbu Saroj found herself clean through on goal early on and struck a low effort, but Bangladesh goalkeeper Shopna Akter Jili reacted quickly to make a sharp save.
That proved to be India’s only meaningful threat in the opening period. Bangladesh soon asserted control, moving the ball with confidence and pressing aggressively across the court. The Indian defence struggled to cope with the fluid attacking movement, particularly the partnership between Srimoti Krishnarani Sarkar and captain Sabina Khatun, which repeatedly stretched the backline.
The breakthrough arrived in the seventh minute when Sabina won possession high up the court before feeding Srimoti. The forward drove purposefully past two defenders and returned the ball into Sabina’s path, allowing the captain to finish calmly and open the scoring.
Bangladesh doubled their advantage four minutes later in unfortunate circumstances for India. Srimoti’s diagonal run created space for a cross into the area, and goalkeeper Tanvi Mavani misjudged the delivery, allowing Sabina to tap in at the far post for her second goal.
India showed more intent at the start of the second period and nearly pulled one back when Khushbu squared a fine ball across goal for Sonali Mondal. However, Sonali hesitated under pressure, giving Shopna enough time to recover and make the save.
Bangladesh responded with renewed attacking urgency, going close through Nouson Jahan, who beat multiple defenders before shooting narrowly wide, and Lipi Akter, whose powerful effort was fumbled by the goalkeeper before being cleared off the line by captain Jigmet Chunzen.
Any hopes of an Indian revival were effectively ended in the 31st minute. Bangladesh struck on the counter-attack as Masura Parvin released Sumaya Matsushima with a perfectly weighted pass. Spotting the goalkeeper off her line, Sumaya fired a precise right-footed shot into the net to make it 3-0.
India continued to press in search of a consolation and were finally rewarded in the 37th minute. From a Ritika Singh corner, Arya More struck a diagonal shot that found the bottom corner, reducing the deficit. However, the goal came too late to change the outcome, as Bangladesh saw out the victory with composure and control.