PESHAWAR: Khyber Karwan Lion advanced to next round after recording victories on the opening day of the Peshawar Football League which got under way here at Qayyum Sports Complex on Thursday.

In the first match Khyber Karwan Lion defeated DC Chitral Markoor in a thrilling 3-2 battle. Khyber Karwan Lion was two goals down at the end of the first session but it staged a strong comeback by scoring three consecutive goals in the second session to make the tally 3-2.

This was Muhammad Nouman and Alamgir who netted two quick goals through field attempts. Muhammad Nouman got a free ball from mid-fielder Sher Afzal and zoomed quickly into the danger zone where he netted a superb goal to make the tally 1-0.

After a short-break of 7-minute in the first session Alamgir slammed in another forceful kick from the 25-yard distance and made the tally 2-0. Till the end of the first session play DC Chitral Markoor team have their two goals lead.

It was the second session in which Khyber Karwan Lion managed their position accordingly and despite in two goals deficit staged a strong comeback by scoring three consecutive goals to make the tally 3-2. Right winger Imran, center striker Ibrahim and left winger Amir scored one goal each on the field attempt. The second-half was totally dominated by Khyber Karwan Lion who scored three goals to win the match by 3-2.

In the second match City Eagles and Islamia College Stoori played a 1-1 draw before City Eagles was leading 1-0 at half-time. Hashim scored a beautiful goal on the field attempt for City Eagles while Mehmood slammed in the equalizer in the second session. Both City Eagles and Islamia College Stoori raided on each other defence with some good attacking moves but none of the teams could get any lead till the end of the first 25-minute play. This was Hashim, the right winger who scored a superb goal on the field attempt in the 26th minute.

Leading 1-0 at half-time, City Eagles failed to click in the second session dominated by Islamia College Stoori. Islamia College Stoori found the equalizer in the 68th minute through Mehmood, the center striker and thus the match ended in a 1-1 draw.

In the third match of the days processing Town-3 Jagwar and Abaseen also played 1-1 draw. Yasir scored for Town-3 Jagwar and Abbas leveled the tally 1-1 for Abaseen.

Vice Chancellor Sarhad University of Science and Technology Peshawar Salim Ur Rehman was the chief guest on this occasion, who formally made the commencement of the opening of Peshawar Football League in which a total 10 teams are taking part.

Director CECOS University Sohaib, Secretary KP Football Association Basit Kamal, international footballers Qazi Asif, Atiq Shinwari, Jamshed Khan, Allouddin, Zeeshan, officials of the other participating teams, players and large number of spectators were also present.

In his welcome address organizing secretary and Chairman Youth Gleam Gul Haider thanked Director General Sports Junaid Khan and Director General Youth Asfandiyar Khan Khattak for extending their all-out financial and moral support in holding the event.

He said before holding the League, they have conducted open trials wherein 2000 football aspirants turned up for the trials and a selection committee headed by Basit Kamal short-listed 10 teams out of that short-listed players in order to involve maximum numbers of youth from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The colorful opening ceremony was started with the recitation from the Holy Quran by Majid, followed by National Anthem and a smart March Past of the all the 10-participating teams. Soon after the announcements of the commencement of Peshawar Football League, balloons and pigeons were released in a token good gesture. The teams comprising Qisa Khawani Darwash, City Eagles, Sarhad Nangayali, Islamia College Stoori, DC Chitral Markoor, Town-3 Jagwars, Hayatabad Tooryalay, Town-1 Tigers, DC Sarkar Peshawar and Khyber Karwan Azmari. The winner will be awarded Rs 0.1 million while the runners-up will get Rs 50,000, best goal-keeper, best player, best scorer, best emerging player and best referee will be awarded Rs 10,000 each.-APP