The All-Karachi Secretary Ali Asghar Invitational Football Tournament, hosted by Hazara Mohammadan FC (DFA East), saw Azam Sports beat fellow DFA East side National Fighter in the final on penalties 4-2 after a 2-2 draw in normal time.
Azam Sports continued their successful run in 2012 with their 8th winners trophy in the year so far. The Hazara Shaheen Ground in Shah Faisal, Karachi was jam packed with a large crowd witnessing the final.
National Fighter took the lead through Abdul Aziz after 25 minutes but Azam Sports came back strongly in 2nd half as a goal from Aqeel Khan (40′) and a penalty from Kamran Boota (51′) made them go 2-1 ahead.
But National Fighter managed to equalise just 2 minutes before the end as Maqbool Ahmed scored to make it 2-2, forcing a penalty shoot out.
Azam Sports kept their nerve in shoot-out as Waseem Ullah, Jehanzeb, Kamran Boota, and Aqeel Khan converted their penalties. Only Abdul Aziz and Tahir Qadri could score for National Fighter as Azam Sports’ goalkeeper Shahid Islam saved Waqar’s kick while Maqbool Ahmed struck the post.
Azam Sports won 4-2 in the end to be crowned champions.
Referees were Saeed Khan, Abdul Karim, Javed Bangash, and match referee Abdur Rehman.
The tournament was held by Hazara Mohammadan in honour of its former club secretary Ali Asghar and his contributions to the side as he was given a Rs 1 Lakh cheque to reward his services.
Chief guest for the final was Zulfiqar Ali, proprietor at A.Z. Enterprises, and he handed out winners trophy to Azam Sports captain Shahid Islam, runners-up trophy to National Fighter captain Abdul Aziz, as well as other prizes including tracksuits to all players, and honourary shields to the guests present.
Present at the occasion were DFA East vice presidents M Rahim and Syed Usman Shah, secretary Ubaidullah, treasurer Khalid Tanoli, Karachi United Football Foundation administrator and media manager Riaz Ahmed, DFA West vice-president Abdul Hameed, secretary Rahim Bakhsh, DFA South vice president Murad Bakhsh, secretary Jan Muhammad, DFA Central vice president M Shamim, FIFA referee Muhammad Iqbal Junior, Haji Saleem, organising secretary M Yousaf, Ejaz Jazi et al.
