January 30, 2008	Wednesday	Muharram 20, 1429

LAHORE, Jan 29: The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) will not compromise on fielding overage players in the currently held 7th National Under-14 football championship.

“All the 15 teams taking part in the ongoing event at Sahiwal are being monitored by a scrutiny committee and strict disciplinary action will be taken against teams fielding over aged players,” said PFF president Faisal Saleh Hayat here on Tuesday.

He said the players’ age was being verified by relevant documents and those teams submitting fake documents of players will be thrown out of the competition and players will be banned.

The ten-day show will help the PFF to select a Pakistan team for the AFC U-14 Festival, slated to run at Iran.

The main field of the tournament, Rai Ali Nawaz stadium, will host 16 matches including the Feb 5 final.

Sindh, placed in Group-B with Islamabad, will be aiming to complete a hat-trick of title wins after previous victories in 2006 and 2007.

Hosts Sahiwal are placed in Group ‘D’ along with Karachi Yellow, Fata and Balochistan while Punjab, PMC and Jacobabad are being bracketed in Group ‘A’. Group ‘C’ is comprise NWFP, Northern Areas, Wohaib FC and Faisalabad Green.

“To ensure the inclusion of only genuine footballers in the age-groups tournies, both FIFA and AFC have set strict rules and each and every player has to pass an age-verification test,” said Faisal who is also the member of AFC Disciplinary Committee.—APP