Young Rising Stars FC retain women’s football title

Defeat WAPDA on penalties in final.

KARACHI: Young Rising Stars FC defended their National Women’s Football Championship title for the second successive time as they defeated Wapda on penalties 2-0 in Islamabad yesterday.

Young Rising Star FC, featuring six national team players including captain Sana Mehmood, defeated Balochistan United FC to reach the final. The team finished with a tally of 25 goals in six matches and remained unbeaten in the tournament.

“The biggest achievement for me and the club is that we’ve kept the title for three years,” Sana told The Express Tribune. “We played well despite the absence of a couple of players. This has been the toughest championship in three years — the semi-final against Balochistan United FC was a close call but we managed to get through.

“We missed our chances and winning with only two penalties shows the struggle but we are proud with the result anyway.”

After the goalless 90 minutes, Sana and Asmara Habib scored the penalties to help their side retain the trophy.

Young Rising Star FC were awarded the Rs300,000 winners’ cheque, while Syeda Mahpara received the prize for the best goal-keeper of the tournament. Habib was declared the best player of the tournament, while Diya FC’s Hajra Khan got Rs40,000 for being the highest scorer with 10 goals in the championship.

Meanwhile, according to the players, including Habib, increasing the prize-money can be a great motivation for the players. She said that women’s football is usually undermined by the men’s game and being rewarded for one’s efforts is an added advantage.

“We all play for the love of the game but getting an incentive in terms of money definitely makes a lot of difference. It’s more professional and many girls who come from humble backgrounds find a better reason to stick to football,” said Habib.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 10^th, 2012.