U23 KP Games: Men’s competition begins, Peshawar, Bannu secure win

PESHAWAR
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Under-23 Inter-Regional Male Games got underway with Peshawar and Bannu secured victories against their respective rivals in the opening matches of the football competition being played here at Tehmas Khan Football Stadium on Wednesday.
On the first day of competition, Peshawar and Bannu won their respective matches and qualified for the next round. The first match of the football event was played between Peshawar and Hazara. It was quite interesting, both teams showed a wonderful and quality game. In the first half, neither team wasted the chances to score. In the second half, both teams attacked each other’s goal post. In the 62nd minute of the game, Peshawar players made excellent passes. The ball was delivered to Rahim, whose good pass was scored by Waqas. In other matches, Bannu beat Kohat by 2-0 while Peshawar defeated Mardan to reach the semi-finals by 2-1 in another thrilling match. For Peshawar Alamgir and Siraj netted a fine goal while for Mardan Jabbar reduced the margin.
In the first match played at HayatAbad Cricket Stadium, Bannu defeated Malakand by two wickets. While playing first, the Malakand team scored 84 runs in the allotted fifteen overs. Ilyas was outstanding with 25 runs. In response, Bannu achieved the desired target with the loss of eight wickets. In the second match Mardan defeated DIK by five wickets. While playing first, Dera Ismail Khan scored 135 runs while playing first and Mardan chased the target for the loss of five wickets with Niamat Ullah was the top scorer with his graceful 54 runs including nine boundaries and one six. Itif and Jibran scored 23 and 22 runs each. The three-day competition of the Regional Games was officially inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ali Amin Khan Gandapur. Advisor to the Chief Minister on Sports and Youth Affairs Syed Fakhar Jahan and other personalities were present on the occasion. 1850 male and female athletes will participate in 20 different sports. In which 770 female players are participating in 9 different games while 1150 male players are participating in 11 different games.