Gawadar cruise into Leisure Leagues National finals

KARACHI: Gawadar became the second team to qualify for the Leisure Leagues National Championship when they won Balochistan Regional Leisure Leagues Championship, which was recently held in Quetta.

Karachi’s Abdul FC had already qualified for the national finals from Sindh. A total of four teams, from each of the four provinces, will compete in the national finals, which will be held in Karachi on July 28.

Gawadar won the final game against hosts Quetta 3-1 at Al-Muntazir Futsal ground in Quetta.

The winners of the national championship will represent Pakistan in Greece in the second edition of the Socca World Cup. The tournament will be held in Crete from October 12 to 20. Last year, Lahore’s ICAW represented Pakistan in the inaugural edition, which was hosted by Portugal in Lisbon.

Earlier, a total of 20 teams, divided into five groups, played pre-qualifiers of the Balochistan Championship. Quetta, Sibbi, Kuchlak, Kalat and Gawadar qualified for second qualifiers before a pre-final and the final.

Prior to the final game, where Quetta got a direct berth, Gawadar thrashed Sibbi 7-3, while Kuchlak overcame Kalat 2-1.

In an exciting pre-final, Gawadar defeated Kuchlak 2-1 before eventually beating Quetta 3-1 in the final.