KARACHI: Police created history as they won their maiden National Games men’s football title after a 3-0 win against Pakistan Air Force (PAF) in the tournament final at the Ayub Stadium Quetta.

In a jam-packed venue, on Sunday, Police did a fantastic job as they trumped the resourceful PAF being coached by Pakistan’s head coach Shehzad Anwar. Mohammad Hanif provided Police with a lead in the 14th minute, while Mohammad Wasay doubled this advantage in the 20th minute before landing his second and third goals for his side in the 75th minute to seal a superb win.

Earlier, Police had lost to PAF in their group game 0-1.  Following the victory, Police’s coach-cum-manager Sardar Rahim shared that he was delighted with his team’s maiden crown in the Games.  “I am very happy today. It's a well-deserved victory,” Rahim told The News. “You know, I build the team by myself. For this event, we had taken six players from Peshawar, four from Punjab while the rest were from Balochistan,” he shared. “We had lost to PAF 1-0 in our league show and today we came against them with a certain plan which paid dividends. We marked their top players throughout and struck three goals in the process,” he said. PAF coach Shehzad Anwar said his side squandered chances. “It was a good game but I will credit Police who played really well and converted their chances. We squandered our chances in the start as well as towards the end,” he said. “It's my experience that when you beat a team in the league group it will beat you in the knock-out stage,” said Shehzad, also an Asian Football Confederation (AFC) licensed coach.

Published in The Daily National Courier, May, 23 2023

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