2nd ISAT Ganderbal football tournament concludes

Ganderbal, May 4: The second ISAT Ganderbal seven-A-side football tournament concluded in Qamaria sports stadium here on Sunday.
The finals of A and B-division leagues were played on the concluding day. Hashmi Sports Bandipora was against ISAT Gopalpora in B-division final while Solina football club was against Kashmir Mughals in A-division final. To watch matches hundreds of spectators had thronged the venue.
The B-division match kicked off first. Being shorter version of game, played with only seven players and also less match duration the pace of the play was fast from very beginning.
Both the teams were trying to take early advantage by scoring the first goal but it was Hashmi players who were having more ball control. ISAT players were not able to hold ball and give accurate passes. Hashmi took advantage of that scoring two goals within space of two minutes in first half. Tahir scored both of them with clean direct strikes. At half time they were leading by 2-0.
Resuming play after half time, Tahir scored third goal in 2nd minute of second half and made it 3-0 for Hashmi. In 10th minute ISAT scored their first goal but only one minute later Raja made it 4-1 for Hasmi. They won match by 4-1 goals and lifted the B-division title.
At the time of registration, Hashmi Club wanted to play in A-division but as the registration for that was already over so the organizers allowed them to play in B-division.
“We wanted to play in A-division but for that we were late to register ourselves. I know how much caliber our players have got and it was because of that we wanted to play in higher division,” said Hashmi team manager.
In A-division, Solina sports defeated Kashmir Mughals by 4-2. Solina was dominant team from the start of the match. Their passing was accurate and shots were also on target. On the other hand Kashmir Mughals players didn’t look in touch and they were not having any understanding between each other. For Solina, all the four goals were scored by Sahil. For Kashmir Mughals goals were scored by Irfan. With this win Solina lifted the A-division title.
J&K Football Association, President Zamir Ahmad Thakur was the chief guest on the occasion and he distributed among the winners.
Speaking at the concluding function Zamir said, “These type of tournaments will help football which is number one game of state to grow in rural areas. By organizing events like this more and more rural youth will join football.”
“We are thankful to Brazilian coach Marcos for organizing this event on second consecutive year and we hope he will take such initiatives in other districts as well” he said.
The tournament was organized by Brazilian coach Marcos.
Giving details about the event he said, “The event had kicked off last month and in it 58 teams from five districts of valley participated. More than 100 matches were played in month long tournament.”
“I am here to promote football in rural areas. From the very first day, since I arrived in valley I have been saying that I want to serve state football. In rural areas there is tremendous talent and the only need is to give them chance to prove it. That is what I am doing” Marcos said.


published in greater kashmir on June 5 2009 http://greaterkashmir.com/full_story.asp?Date=5_5_2009&ItemID=22&cat=4