Super-League football tourney kicks off
Srinagar, June 17: The much awaited annual super-league football
tournament organised by J&K Football Association (JKFA) kicked off
at Polo ground here on Sunday.
The football extravaganza of state
was inaugurated by J&K Bank Executive President and Chairman Sports
Board, Taffazul Hussain.
The event commenced with ceremonial kick by the chief guest.
In
the event, 14 teams from all over State that include departmental teams
are competing against each other. Unlike normal leagues, the league by
JKFA is quite different in which 14-teams have been separated into two
groups of seven each.
To decide who goes into which group, JKFA held
draw of lots recently in which teams were assigned their groups. The
Group-A has got JK Police-A as the only heavyweight among the
departmental teams. The other six teams in group include, Maharaja
Sports, Food and Supplies, Safallo-A, Arafat Sports, Rahim Greens Solina
Club ‘A’ and Jehlum Sports.
The Group-B is filled with top teams of
the State and it includes JK Bank, JK Forest, JK SRTC, JKPDC-A, Iqbal
Sports, Young Maharaja and Kashmir Mughals.
Speaking on the
occasion, Taffazul Hussain said, “Football is the most popular game in
the State and in Valley its popularity is matchless. None, even cricket
can’t match its popularity and enthusiasm among fans and players here in
our part of the world”. “JK Bank is sponsoring the event and we are
always ready to help JKFA in promotion of the game in whatever manner we
can do,” he said.
Giving details about the activity of JK Bank in
football arena he said, “We have got top side of football in State and
we have now formed football academies in both provinces of State. We
will be organising national level also this year in Valley in which some
of the top sides of Country would be participating”.
Among others
present on the occasion were, JKFA President Zamir Ahmad Thakur,
resident secretary Prof BA Shah, resident treasurer, Fayaz Ahmad Sofi,
former international footballer M Shafi Nari and others.
Looking at
the teams in Group-A it should be catwalk for the JK Police to qualify
the group while as other teams like Maharaja, Food & Supplies and
Safallo-A will have equal chances of qualifying. From each group only
two teams will qualify for the knockout stage.
The group-B can be
rightly called as group of death and it all happened due draw of lots.
Otherwise organisers would have never kept so many heavyweights in same
group. JK Bank, Forest, SRTC, PDC and Iqbal will all have their share of
chances to qualify. Though on the basis of current form JK Forest looks
clear favourite among these heavyweights but nothing can be said about
other teams in the group as all have got their class and reputation
intact.
JK Forest in recent years has emerged as top highflying side
of State. Riding on the young talented players it has won numerous
titles in recent years. On the other hand, JK Bank is known as
powerhouse of JK Football and includes some of the well known
experienced players of the State. Yesteryears golden team JKSRTC is
being revived and it can thro many surprises. JKPDC formed under the
watchful eyes of former Indian football team captain Abdul Majeed Kakroo
will be a team to beat in the event. The group of death also include
top private club of State Iqbal Sports which is known for producing new
players. One can never sideline this club keeping their track record in
big events in mind.
Keeping all this in mind it will be a treat for
football fans and moreover their will be some of the memorable clashes
to offer.
The inaugural match was played between JK Police-A and
Food and Supplies. In the match, Food and Supplies stunned JK Police-A
by 1-0.
Earlier the A-Division league also kicked off with the match
played between Novelty Blue and Royal Sports that turned out as
goalless draw.
In the there are two groups, The Group-A include
Majid Sports, YMCA, Young Lal Chowk, Novelty Blue, JK Bank-B , R&B
and Royal Sports.
Group-B include JKP-B, Court Road, Syed Taj-ud-Din, Young Iqbal, PDC-B, Jehangir Sports and Shaheen Sports.
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