KARACHI, Feb 18: Sindh were crowned champions of the National Under-13 Regional Football Festival after they defeated Balochistan 3-1 in Okara on Monday.

The victory meant that Sindh topped the final standings with a maximum nine points after winning all their three games at the event played at the Okara Football Academy Ground.

The star of Monday’s show was Shahid who struck a brace to guide Sindh home. The striker opened the scoring in the 12th minute before doubling their lead in the 41st minute.

Qudratullah pulled one back in the 44th minute for Balochistan, who before the match had a chance to win the event with a healthy victory, before Riaz’s 54th minute strike sealed the game for Sindh.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa benefited from Balochistan’s defeat as they pipped them to second place with a 2-0 victory over Punjab in the other match.

Both the goals came early in the second-half with Salman, the top-scorer of the tournament along with Sindh’s Shahid, scoring in the third minute before firing in his second three minutes later.

The scant consolation for Balochistan was their player Shakeel being named best player of the tournament and collected a cash award of Rs5,000.

Sindh collected the glittering trophy and a purse of Rs50,000 while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa got a cheque of Rs30,000. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Mudassar was named the best goalkeeper while they also collected the Fair-play award.

Final standings: (Tabulated under team, played, won, drawn, lost, goals scored, goals against, points) Sindh    3    3    0    0    11    1    9 Khyber Pakhtunkhwa    3    2    0    1    5    4    6 Balochistan    3    1    0    2    8    6    3 Punjab    3    0    0    3    0    13    0