Seventh round of Leisure Leagues football tournament underway

KARACHI: Mohammad Talha scored a hat-trick to propel Al-Qadir Football Club to 4-0 victory and later Mohammad Anzala fired four goals to lead the team to 5-1 win in two matches against Qadir School in the seventh round of Leisure Leagues Karachi Youth Initiative Football Tournament here at a local park in city’s Lyari area.

Apart from Talha, Mohammad Hasnain completed the four-goal tally in the first match while Mohammad Shehroz scored one in the second match where Anzala was the star performer.

Meanwhile, in another two-match tie, Mohammad Azmat scored a hat-trick in each match to give his team Pak Zamindar 3-1 and 3-0 victories against Shaheed Raja Football Club also at Gabol Park.

Abdul Sattar of Khyber Muslim football team found the net once in each of the two matches his team played against Mauripur Azad. The host team recorded identical 1-0 win in both matches, which were played at Khyber-Muslim Football Stadium in District West.

Meanwhile at Mohammadi Stadium in District Malir, Mohammad Shahzad first scored one goal to give his team Shahzad Mohammadan 1-0 win and then he scored another two goals in the second match to help his side register an impressive 3-0 victory against Malir Young Boys. Mohammad Mudasar scored the third goal.

These eight matches were a part of the one hundred matches played at five different venues – namely Gabol Park (South District), 16-Star Football Ground (District Central), Ansar Union Football Stadium (District East), Mohammadi Stadium (District Malir) and Khyber-Muslim Football Stadium (District West) on Saturday and Sunday.

Twenty teams were equally divided into two groups – Group A and Group B and are playing two matches against one another – on home and away basis against other teams in their respective groups. According to Leisure Leagues rule book, a league cannot have more than ten teams. Therefore, the twenty teams playing at one venue have been divided into two groups of ten teams each.

A total of 100 teams – twenty teams from each of the five districts namely District South, Central, East, Malir and West are participating in the mega tournament.

Leisure Leagues is organizing this league for the underprivileged youngsters of the city in order to keep them involved in healthy activities and subsequently away from unsocial activities. Leisure Leagues also believe that such activities can in near future produce football stars for the country.

Each player participating in the tournament was been given free kit and football shoes. Conveyance allowance has also been given to each team.

“In line with our long standing commitment to giving back to the people of Pakistan, we continue to provide opportunities for the underprivileged youth of Karachi through sports. This initiative will help keep them away from negative activities. And channel their energy in the right direction,” Chairman World Group Mehmood Trunkwala said. Leisure Leagues has been brought to Pakistan by Trunkwala family.

The twenty teams of a district have been divided into two groups – Group ‘A’ and Group ‘B’. Top teams from Group ‘A’ and Group ‘B’ will play District final and a District Champion will emerge. Subsequently, the champions from the five districts will play in a ‘Champions League’, playing one match against each other. The top team from the league will become ‘Leisure Leagues Karachi Champions’.

Leisure Leagues is holding its events across the country including Lahore, Islamabad, Hyderabad, Peshawar, Mardan, Quetta and Rawalpindi. Jacobabad and Gilgit are next in line. Leisure Leagues is looking forward to enhance their presence in more cities in near future.

The city champions of Leisure Leagues will then play in Leisure Leagues National Tournament, tentatively in March 2018.