Talents abound at football meet

Talents abound at football meet


UNITED Youth Football Club (UYFC) from Pandan Indah in Kuala Lumpur and Langkawi Kenari Kids emerged champions of the Under-12 and Under-10 categories respectively in the second Kedah Kenari Kids football carnival.

UYFC defeated Kenari Kids B of Kedah 4-2 on penalties in the Under-12 final while Langkawi Kenari Kids beat Hicom-Honda Kenari Kids A 2-0 in the Under-10 final played at the Istana Anak Bukit ground in Alor Setar.

UYFC had overcome Kota Damansara of Selangor 2-0 in the Under-12 semi finals earlier while Kenari Kids B outplayed their A counterparts 2-1.

The Under-12 final ended in a stalemate at the end of regulation time as both teams were unable to score and the outcome was decided by a penalty shoot-out.

UYFC prevailed in the shoot-out by converting all their first four spot kicks while the Kenari Kids B only scored from two of the first four kicks.

UYFC’s goals were scored by Naim Abdul Razak, Mohd Azrul Adhar, Mohd Farid Khazali and Mohd Shafiq.

Ahmad Firdaus and Mohd Izzat Iqmar scored for the Kenari Kids while Nabil Ramli’s kick was saved by UYFC’s goalkeeper, Mohd Aizat Roslin. Arisul Hakimi sent his kick out past the upright to hand the title to UYFC.

In the Under-10 final, Langkawi Kenari Kids dominated the proceedings against Hicom-Honda A from Sungai Petani to win by 2-0.

In the 2009 carnival, Bintang Biru foot- ball club from Prai in Penang was the Under-12 champions while Hicom-Honda Kids from Sungai Petani took the Under-10 title.

A total of 16 teams (six in the Under-10 and 10 in the Under-12 category) from Singapore, Thailand, Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Kedah competed in the two-day carnival on Dec 17 and 18.

Kedah princess, Datuk Seri Panglima Besar Tunku Puteri Intan Safinaz Sultan Abdul Halim, gave away the medals and trophies to the winners.

The carnival was declared open by Kedah Youth, Sports, Arts, Heritage and Culture Committee chairman Dr Hamdan Mohd Khalib.

Dr Hamdan said the tournament was orga-nised to uncover young talents to be groomed into quality players to serve Kedah which was in line with the aspirations of the Kedah Football Association.

He said six Kenari Kids training centres —two each in Alor Setar and Sungai Petani, and one each in Jitra and Langkawi — that were set in Kedah a few years back had proven to be of benefit to the state.

“A good example is the success of the Kedah Under-15 team in 2010 who qualified to represent the Asia-Pacific region in the Manchester United Premier Cup World soccer finals in Manchester in 2010.

“The success of the team has fuelled the interest of several young players and the demand to enrol in our training centres has increased two fold.

“It is hoped that the Kenari Kids carnival will produce more exciting young players to serve the state in the future,” Dr Hamdan said.

Refer : STARonline