New Delhi [India], January 29 (ANI): India ended their campaign at the inaugural SAFF Women's Futsal Championship 2026 on a high note, finishing as runners-up with a 5-2 win over Sri Lanka. The victory ensured India secured 12 points from six matches, finishing behind champions Bangladesh.

Speaking to ANI, Indian midfielder Mithila Ramani reflected on the team's performance. 'Fantastic. I think it's a really good achievement for women's futsal in India. Especially given that it's the first-ever SAFF Futsal Championship that happened. So for us to be able to bring back silver medal, we would have loved for it to be a gold. But in the next edition, we will definitely be looking to make it a gold. But I think for the first outing, it was a really, really good experience competing and winning for India at the international level.'

In their final match of the tournament, India dominated from the first whistle, with Sonali Mondal scoring a hat-trick in the 6th, 7th, and 16th minutes. Mithila added a goal in the 9th minute, while Pooja Gupta sealed the scoring in the 36th minute. The team bounced back strongly from an earlier loss against Bhutan.

'In that match, we had come from a loss against Bhutan. So, we were all eager to turn the tables and end the tournament on a high... it showed the team's character to bounce back from a loss against Bhutan and end the tournament on a high because that sealed the silver medal for us,' she said.

Ramani also spoke about the unique demands of futsal compared to traditional football. 'I think one of the main differences is, of course, the surface that we play on and the size of the pitch. The surface is wooden. We play on a hard surface, which is usually a wooden court or a synthetic court. And the size of the pitch is much smaller... the pace of the game and how fast we make certain decisions, that matters a lot on the futsal pitch compared to a football pitch.'

Reflecting on her own journey from engineering to professional football, Ramani shared, 'I come from a very academically inclined family. I'm the first sportsperson in my whole family to play at a professional level. So the natural inclination at the time was to secure my future. And my parents were also not too sure about how women's football as a career was in India. So I was pushed into a life in academics early on. But around the third year of my graduation is when I realized that I wanted to continue staying with sports.'

'And I actually wanted to continue being in sports through sports management. Because I enjoyed both the off-field and on-field aspects of sports. So I took a break post engineering and I decided that this is not for me and this is not what I want to build a career in. I did do well through college, but it wasn't my calling. And I found a true calling in sports management and also had that unfinished dream of not having played for the country yet. So I continued to play football at the IWL level, IWL II, Karnataka State level. While I continued that, I think sports management was the way that I could earn my daily bread. I could earn a salary, have a job in sports so I could give back to the field.'

Looking ahead for herself and the Indian futsal team, she said, 'Next is to just keep in touch with the sport because we do have some friendlies and AFC qualifiers coming up is what we were told. The timelines, I'm not too sure. But yeah, the idea is to stay consistent, keep performing at the international level with women's futsal.'

On the increasing women's participation in futsal, she emphasized, 'I think one of the main aspects, I would say, as an advantage of futsal is that it requires very little space. And it can be played on a hard surface. I think in India, there are loads of badminton courts, loads of basketball courts. So any of those can be converted into futsal courts. So I think the accessibility is very high with respect to futsal.'

She added, 'I think girls taking it up early on in their lives, because I think if you see most footballing powerhouses, whether it's Brazil, whether it's Portugal, whether it's the top European countries or South American countries, all used to play futsal. And that develops your close control with the ball, that develops your decision making. And I think more young girls actually taking up futsal will help us become not just a good futsal playing nation, but also a good footballing nation.'

She also praised the support from regional and national bodies. 'I think SAFF, having hosted the first Women's Futsal Championship right now, is a very encouraging step,' she said. 'And AIFF as well, stepping in to support futsal the way that it has, is a very good, positive note to see,' she concluded. (ANI)