Karachi's Abdul Football Club overpowered Jacobabad's Abdul Rehman Shaheed White in the Sindh Region final to become the first team to reach Leisure Leagues National Championship, which will be held later this month. Played at Agriculture University in Tando Jam, Shahrukh Khatak scored the lone goal of the match to help his team win the regional title and qualify for the national finals.
Four teams - one team from each province will qualify for Leisure Leagues National Championship, which will be held in Karachi on July 28. The winners of the national championship will earn a prized ticket to Greece where the team will get a chance to represent Pakistan in the second edition of the Socca World Cup. The tournament will be held in Crete, Greece from October 12 to 20. Last year, Lahore's ICAW represented Pakistan in the inaugural edition, which was hosted by Portugal in Lisbon.
Earlier in semifinals of the Sindh Region finals, Abdul FC defeated Larkana's Al-Shams FC by 1-0 with Mohammad Asif scoring the lone goal of the match. Abdul Rehman Shaheed White team thrashed Umerkot by 7-0 with international player Zulfiqar Shah firing four goals and Ahsan scoring three goals. Anwar Khanzada, Director Sports Agriculture University praised Leisure Leagues during the closing ceremony for indulging youth in healthy activities. Leisure Leagues officials Regional Manager Sindh Syed Shahroze, Leagues Manager Pakistan Riaz Ahmed, Coordinator COO Asif Mairaj, Ground Coordinator Waqas Abdul Razaq and others were also present on the occasion.
A total of 20 city champions - who earlier won their respective intra-city championships, initially featured in Sindh region qualifying finals at three venues namely Kandiaro, Rojhan Jamali and Tando Jam. Tando Jam hosted two five-team leagues. Winner of each of the four leagues qualified for semifinals.