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Punjab win inaugural Women’s Football Championship

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: Punjab won the inaugural National Women’s Football Championship when they downed Pakistan WAPDA 1-0 in the final at Jinnah Stadium here on Thursday evening.

A scuffle broke out between the rivals after the match when Punjab tried to celebrate their victory which enraged the losers led by their star striker Khalida Noor. The girls of both teams freely kicked and punched each other. The catfight forced the tournament organisers to enter the ground and put an end to the brawl.

Punjab’s only goal came from Sheka Nazeer on a penalty kick in the 53rd minute. WAPDA protested the referee’s decision and threatened to leave the ground without completing the match but resumed the play after the intervention of Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) director general Arif Mehmud Siddique. As the match restarted, the WAPDA girls, who looked physically strong compared to the opponents, started pushing and pulling the Punjab players. Sensing the high tampers of WAPDA, match referee Abrahim Khan blew the final whistle three minutes before the scheduled time.

General Ehsanul Haq was the chief guest and distributed the prizes among the winners and runners-up. PFF president Syed Faisal Saleh Hayat and some women parliamentarians also witnessed the match and appreciated the efforts of national federation for promoting the women’s game. Besides the winning trophy, Punjab skipper Tehsin Illyas also received Rs 200,000 cash award while WAPDA’s skipper Munaza Nazeer received Rs 100,000. The most valuable player prize of Rs 25,000 was earned by Islamabad’s Munazeh Shahid. Islamabad received the fair play trophy with Rs 10,000.

Balochistan claimed third place after beating Sindh 1-0 in the play-off match on Wednesday.

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