Sindh stun Punjab in U-15 Football final

LAHORE: Sindh won PFF National Under-15 Football Championship by beating Punjab in the final match on penalty kicks.

President of PFF Faisal Saleh Hayat along with Vice President PFF & President Punjab FA Sardar Naveed Haider Khan and General Secretary Col (retd) Ahmed Yar Khan Lodhi, Head Coach Joze Noguiera, Captain Pakistan National Team Saddam Hussain, Physical trainer of national team Beto Portella and Secretary Sindh FA Rahim Baloch distributed the Prizes among the Top performers of the event.

Earlier DG Sports Board Punjab Amir Jan was the guest of honor of the opening ceremony of the final match played here at Punjab Stadium. The match remained a draw in the regular time 2-2, however, Sindh defeated Punjab on penalty kicks by margin of 4-1 to lift the trophy. Earlier Islamabad outclassed Balochistan by 2-0 to secure third position.

Winner team Sindh was awarded Rs 300,000, runners up Punjab bagged Rs 200,000 while third position holder Islamabad was given Rs 100,000, Fair play trophy with Rs 40,000 was awarded to FATA, Best player Bismillah Khan (Balochistan) also got Rs 40,000. Top scorer Mudassar Nazir (Sindh) and best goal keeper Muhammad Awais (Punjab) received Rs 30,000 each.

Talking to the media on this occasion, President of PFF Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat said, youth competitions are nursery for national football. No country can get fresh talent for the future without development of the game at grass root level.

PFF is providing every opportunity to junior footballers. Emerging stars have been spotted in this event. Players’ pool will be looked after well and good facilities await these youngsters. These players will take the Pakistan Football on the rise, FIFA President has assured all out support for the development of the game in Pakistan during recently held meeting, after a gap of more than 3 years Pakistan national team performed very well in the Asian Games and then in SAFF Championship by beating the teams having much higher world football rankings.

SBP and PFA striving hard to promote football in the province: Aamir Jan: Director General Sports Punjab Muhammad Aamir Jan said football is the most popular game of the world and Sports Board Punjab with the collaboration of Punjab Football Association (PFA) is striving hard to promote the game of football in the province; he said this in a statement after the closing ceremony of National Under-15 Football Championship at Punjab Stadium on Tuesday.

Sports and Youth Affairs Advisor Umer Farooq, and a large number of football lovers were also present on this occasion.Punjab Football Association officials warmly received the guests of honour Aamir Jan and Sports and Youth Affairs Advisor Umer Farooq upon arrival in the Punjab Stadium. Both the finalist teams were also introduced with DG SBP Aamir Jan and Sports and Youth Affairs Advisor Umer Farooq. They also had photographs with the participating players.

Aamir Jan said Sports Board Punjab and Punjab Football Association organized Punjab U-15 Football Cup jointly in a successful manner recently. “Several talented players emerged from that tournament and we will continue to hold such sports championships in future as well”.

Sports and Youth Affairs Advisor Umer Farooq said it’s nice to see young football players exhibiting their game in such a professional manner and now we can expect that one day we will be able to produce top level football players in our own country.