Pak U16 team off to Bhutan after getting NOC

LAHORE: In a dramatic turnaround Ministry of Interior late Tuesday night issued NOC to the Pakistan Under-16 football team for featuring in the Under-16 SAFF Championship which will begin in Bhutan on Friday (tomorrow).

The Green-shirts, under their head coach Sajjad Mehmood, were scheduled to leave for Bhutan via Qatar Airways in the wee hours of Thursday (3am) to feature in the region’s important event whose inaugural edition was won by Pakistan way back in 2011 in Nepal by beating India in the final.

Sajjad Mehmood was also coach of that team.

Earlier on Tuesday, the PFF Normalisation Committee had announced that the under-16 team was not going to feature in the SAFF Championship because the government had not issued NOC. The team had to fly on Tuesday.

NC’s chairman Haroon Malik himself delivered this message to the colts in a speech here at the PFF Headquarters on Tuesday that they were not going to feature in the event because of NOC issue.

Some players wept after hearing this unfortunate news. The news spread like fire both on the conventional and social media which put pressure on the authorities. And late Tuesday night the NOC was issued by the Ministry of Interior to provide an opportunity to Pakistan’s colts to flex their muscles in the event.

Pakistan team has worked hard for it for the last few months. Since February 1 scouting had been started and some fine players were hunted by the NC thanks to their sponsors.

“I am happy that we got NOC,” Pakistan head coach Sajjad Mehmood told 'The News' before flying for Bhutan. “We have prepared well and I hope we will click,” he said.

Meanwhile, due to Pakistan’s late arrival issue organisers have made some changes to Pakistan’s matches. The Green-shirts will face Bhutan in their opener on September2, followed by their clash against Maldives on September 4.