Spirited Tank Wins KP Inter-District Soccer Championship Title

Spirited Tank upset strong Peshawar Red team by 2-0 in the thrilling final o and clinched the trophy of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inter-District Football Championship played here at Sumbal Khan Football ground

PESHAWAR, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 30th Aug, 2017 ) : Spirited Tank upset strong Peshawar Red team by 2-0 in the thrilling final o and clinched the trophy of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Inter-District Football Championship played here at Sumbal Khan Football ground, Qayyum Sports Complex on Wednesday.

Former Health Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Syed Zahir Ali Shah was the chief guest on this occasion. Director General Sports Junaid Khan, former national footballer Haji Noor Ahmad Shah, Khawjah Muhammad Ilyas, Organizing Secretary Basit Kamal, former National team skipper Gohar Zaman and large number of football enthusiasts were also present and witnessed the thrill-packed match.

Before the start of the final match the players of District Tank and Peshawar Red were introduced to the guests. The match between Tank and Peshawar Red was started on slow note and the ball in the first 20minute was confined to mid-field.

It was the 21st minute when Tank got a golden chance when center striker Jamil netted a fine goal from the 25-yard distance. It was right winger Fareed Khan�s move who travelled past three defenders when got a free ball at the center line and zoomed quickly by giving a short-pass to Jamil who netted a fine goal with his forceful kick.

The goal injected new vigor in the rank of Tank forwards who time and again shattered Peshawar defence. For Peshawar international Atiq Shinwari and Amir along with promising mid-fielder Khalid played well but failed to avail their chances.

Tank was leading by 1-0 at half-time. It was the second session in which both District and Peshawar Red made some good rallies of attack but Peshawar missed some good goal scoring opportunities and thus on the other hands Tank controlled the whole trend by dictating Peshawar a good lesson of soccer.

It was in the 66th minute when this time Fareed slammed in a beautiful goal on the field attempt. Mid-fielder of Tank Iftikhar gave a long kick to Fareed who dodged in two defenders before dispatching the ball into the rival goal-post.

Peshawar after conceding two goals managed their position and in the remain 34 minute play made some good rallies of attack but their forwards missed more than four easy goal scoring chances and thus Tank marched into victory 2-0.

The match was nicely supervised by Amin Ullah of District Swat while Allauddin and Abdur Rehman acted as deputy referees while Syed Imtiaz Ali Shah, a FIFA referee, acted as match commissioner.

At the end, Director General Sports KP Junaid Khan announced a cash prize of Rs. 60,000 for the winner team with a glittering trophy and Rs. 40,000 cash for the runners-up. He also lauded the efforts of the KP Football Association for holding the Inter-District Football Championship wherein 16 teams from as many districts took part.

He said the govt is very keen to have cash incentives for the young talented players and that is why soon sports scholarship of Rs. 48000 to be given to each of the players part of the various games in the Under-23 Games of 2016 and 2017.

All the position holders would be given the cash scholarship for one-year, he added. In his brief chat, Syed Zahir Ali Shah appreciated the govt for announcing sports scholarship for young and talented players who won position in Under-23 Games held in 2016 and 2017 respectively.

He also announced Rs. 25000 each for both Tank and Peshawar team. Tank recorded victories against Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu, Hangu and Lakki Marwat before reaching to the final while Peshawar Red beat Malakand, Nowshera, Charsadda, Kohat and Pesawar White in the tournament.