AFC U16 qualifiers must go on: Lodhi

PFF secretary undeterred despite bomb blast at match in Lyari.

KARACHI: The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) will seek better security arrangements to hold the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) U16 Championship qualifiers that are scheduled to take place next month at the People’s Stadium in Lyari.

In the wake of a bomb blast at a football match in Lyari in the wee hours of August 7 that reportedly killed eight teenagers and three others, PFF Secretary Ahmed Yar Khan Lodhi said that holding an international event was even more important now.

“Now it’s necessary to hold the AFC U16 qualifiers in the best way possible, despite the law-and-order situation in the country — the sports should go on” Lodhi told The Express Tribune.

“We are in touch with the Karachi Commissioner as well and they have assured us a fool-proof security plan that will be implemented during the AFC qualifiers.”

Meanwhile, the Pakistan Premier Football League (PPFL) will also begin in the first week of September taking place simultaneously in five cities including Karachi.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 8^th, 2013.

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