Pakistan, Lahore, Friday. April 06, 2012
AFC Referees Preparatory Course, one of the key components of the AFC U14 Boys Festival of Football for Central Asia commenced on Friday including 18 referees from Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Islamic Republic of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan at the Jinnah Stadium, Islamabad. The first week of the Festival is more focused on educating the coaches and referees to prepare them for the matches in the second week.
According to the press release issued here by Pakistan Football Federation (PFF), Ahmed Yar Khan Lodhi, General Secretary, PFF also the chief guest in the opening ceremony has hoped that the AFC U-14 Festival of Football will benefit the Pakistani football in all aspects of the game. Speaking at the beginning of the referees’ preparatory course during the festival, Mr. Lodhi said: “I would like to thank AFC for providing this opportunity to Pakistan and I am hopeful that this will boost PFF drive for improvement of refereeing in Pakistan.”
AFC’s Project Manager John Vittal said: “I would like to advise the participants to take advantage of this chance provided to you. You should establish friendly relations with the instructors for updating your knowledge and developing new skills.”
Iran’s Masoud Enayat and Australia’s Jim Ouliaris are the instructors for the course. Mr. Enayat thanked PFF for their warm hospitality and support saying the course will help the participants develop their skills.
Preparatory Course for Festival Referees will go on until April 15, which also marks the end of the AFC ‘C’ Certificate course for coaches on April 16. The most talented coaches and referees will be selected to join the AFC Project Future programme for further education. There will also be a head coach’s workshop on April 7 and 8 before the matches start.
The Festivals are less about competition and more about providing an arena for talented juniors from their respective regions to play against each other and forge bonds of friendship.
The participants are:
Mansurov Naimjon (Tajikistan), Rakhmonov Kormilzhon (Tajikistan), Aklometov Adylzhan (Kyrgyzstan), Ms. Indria Omorova (Kyrgyzstan), Noor-ul-Haq (Pakistan), Muzammil Hussain (Pakistan), Esmail Pour Sabegh Hassan (I.R. Iran), Bahonar Saied (I.R. Iran), Saki Zada Ali Hussain (Afghanistan), Salihzada Mohammad Nasim (Afghanistan), Arslan Sharif Arslan (Pakistan), Mujeed-ur-Rehman Majeeb (Pakistan), Said Muhammad (Pakistan), Shoaib Bilal (Pakistan), Aziz Ullah (Pakistan), Adnan Anjum (Pakistan), Ahmed Rauf (Pakistan) and Yasir Rehman (Pakistan).