National Women Futsal Championship kicks off in Peshawar

PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa defeated defending Champion Punjab in the opening match of the National Women Futsal Championship at the Peshawar Sports Complex on Monday.

President Pakistan Futsal Federation Women Wing Dr. Afshan Malik, Director of Sports Women Games Ms Rashida Ghaznavi jointly inaugurated the championship and International Women Day celebration in a colourful opening ceremony.

President Pakistan Futsal Federation Sardar Ali Kakar, Chairman, KP Futsal Association Wajiul Hassan, representative of the World Futsal Federation Adnan Malik, Assistant Director Nazia Zakia, Deputy Director Youth Arshad Hussain and Aziz Ullah Khan, Secretary KP Futsal Association Moeen Uddin, Women Wing Member and qualified Futsal Technical Official Sana Liaqat were also present.

The opening ceremony started with a recitation from the Holy Quran, followed by the National Anthem and Team March Past on the tunes of the bands of historical Lady Griffith and Govt Girls College Charsadda. The women teams comprising Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Islamabad, Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan Police, Pakistan Railways, Success Islamabad, Capital Development Authority and host Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Pink and KP Green are taking part in the event. Along with championship matches other colourful events in connection with the International Women Day celebration were also being organised.

Students from school, colleges and university, members of the faculties, teaching staff were invited to the event. Earlier, in the 100 sprint race Musarat Shaheen of Punjab won the first position, followed by Noreen Khan of Gilgit-Baltistan, and Nayub of Punjab got the third position.

In the Sank Race Rabia Hassan of KP won the first position, followed by Rukhsana Aman of Pakistan Police and Raina Nawaz of Peshawar got second and third position, respectively.In the Musical Chair, Aqsa of Pakistan Police won first position, Sonia of Balochistan got the second position and Sumaria of The Success got the third slot.

In the Tug-of-War City Girls College Gulbahar won the first position, followed by GGC Nahaqi.In the Kabaddi event, City Girls College Gulbahar A beat Team B by 32-24 points. Dr Afshan, Director General Sports KP and Ms Rashida Ghaznazi gave away trophies and medals to the position holders.The 12 teams have been divided into two groups and two teams of each group would qualify for the semi-finals.