July 11, 2008	Friday	Rajab 7, 1429

KARACHI, July 10: Diya Women’s Football Club were awarded a walkover in the Karachi Zone ‘D’ decider of the inaugural National inter-club women’s football championship when their opponents Karachi Kickers failed to show up for the match at the desired time at the CDGK Stadium on Thursday evening.

After waiting for over an hour for the Karachi Kickers team to arrive at the stadium, Match Commissioner Hassan Baloch decided to give Diya WFC a walkover which means that they will now go on to play in the Super Four tournament to kick off from July 16 at the Punjab Stadium in Lahore.

“We have been trying to contact the Karachi Kickers’ officials but they have switched off their phones. In the circumstances, we are left with no option but to award Diya Club a walkover,” Hassan Baloch informed Dawn.

Commenting on the situation Sadia Sheikh, General Secretary of the Sindh Women’s Football Association said: “I got several calls from the Karachi Kicker girls complaining to me that they couldn’t come as they were not given any transport facility or fare by their club to reach the ground.”

The decision to hold a decider or rematch between the two Karachi women’s football clubs was taken by the Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) appeal’s committee earlier in the week after reviewing the match commissioner’s report regarding the cheating and fixed matches controversy being attributed to the four teams owned by Malir’s Colony Sports.

Diya Club now take on the other three outfits in the Super Four, namely Lahore’s WP Club, Sialkot’s Vehari United and Rawalpindi’s Young Rising Stars.

Draws of the Super Four tournament are as follows:

July 16: Vehari United v Diya WFC at 8.00am and WP Club v Young Rising Stars at 6.00pm.

July 18: WP Club v Diya WFC at 8.00am and Vehari United v Young Rising Stars at 6.00pm.

July 20: WP Club v Vehari United at 8.00am, Young Rising Star v Diya WFC at 6.00pm.