Srinagar: The matches were witnessed by thousands of spectators as being Sunday large number of football fans had gathered at the venue from early afternoon.
In the first Super-Division match played at Synthetic Turf TRC, Young Iqbal FC beat Young Lal Chowk FC by two goals to one in a closely contested encounter. Ozair and Waseem Dar scored one goal each for the winning team while Umer Bashir scored the solitatry goal for the losing team. Despite losing the match Young Lal Chowk FC team played some exceptional football throughout the match and if they had converted their chances into the goals, the situation would have been different.
In the second Super-Division match of the day, J&K Bank Academy defeated Young Maharaja FC by a solitary goal in a high voltage drama. Sahil Bashir scored the lone goal of the match. The match turned out a mouth watering encounter to the delight of spectators. The quality of the football displayed by both the teams delighted spectators, who had come to support their favourite teams and players.
In the third Super-Division match of the day, also played at Synthetic Turf TRC, Real Kashmir FC Red thrashed Rahim Green Solina by six goals to nil in a one sided encounter. Real Kashmir players dominated the match from start till end and Solina players were no match to their quality play. Mehran opened the account for the winning team in just 4th minute of the match for the winning team and from that moment they gave no chance to the opposite team to come back. Faisal Baba, Basit, Hayat and Umir scored one goal each for Real Kashmir while Mehran scored two.
The Premier-Division match, also played at Synthetic Turf TRC, was another high voltage encounter of the day with two evenly matched teams – AG’s XI and Maharaja Sports – against each other. The forward lines of both the teams started to play attacking football from the word go.However, it was Shabir of AG’s XI who scored first goal of the match in 12th minute. Amanjeet Singh doubled the lead for AG’s XI in 18th minute of the game.
After trailing by two goals, the Maharaja players intensified their attack on the goal post of AG team and they were rewarded in 37th minute of the match when Junaid scored one. At half time the score line read 2-1 in favour of AG’s team. In the second half, the Maharaja players kept the defence lines of opposite team on toes and they got several chances to score, but missed the oppurtunities. The match turned out a delight for the spectators as both the teams weren’t ready to give an inch. With time running out for Mahraja team, they concentrated on scoring rather than defending and AG’s team took advantage of that by scoring third goal in the last minutes of the match and ensuring their victory. Amanjeet was the scorer for the winning team and he was decalared as player of the match for scoring two goals.
Meanwhile, seeing the response of the fans and the popularity of the event, J&K Football Association (JKFA) is making all efforts to make it count. The football governing body in the state has thanked the public for their overwhelming response to the event and hoped in future also they will do the same.
More than 500 football teams and clubs with over 12000 players and over 1500 team officials are participating in the mega event, first of its kind in the history of J&K football. The aim of holding such a mega event is to unearth the hidden talent across the state.
While B-Division League of State Football League is already completed with IFC Nowgam winning the title, the A-Division League has reached to the final stage with Fort View FC and Novelty FC qualifying for final. In Super and Premier Division leagues, more than 50 percent matches have been completed. More than 500 football teams and clubs with over 12000 players and over 1500 team officials are participating in the mega event, the aim of which is to unearth the hidden talent across the State.
Every day thousands of football fans watch the keenly contested matches not only in Srinagar, but in other district headquarters of Kashmir. At Srinagar’s Synthetic Turf Football Stadium, not even a single seat remains free in the evenings with football spectators from all corners of the city converging at the venue to support their favourite teams and the clubs.
