Dhaka: The second version of the Shah Jalal Islami Bank Faraaz Gold Cup Inter University Football tournament began today at the Bangabandhu National Stadium.
Organised by the Sonali Otit Club, an organisation of former footballers, the first edition of the tournament was held with 20 private universities at the Bir Sreshtha Mostafa Kamal Stadium in the capital.
The inaugural edition of the tournament was named Faraz Challenge Cup football tournament when Green University celebrated the title as the unbeaten champions after defeating Far East University by 2-0 in the final.
This time more than 20 universities are participating in the competition.
On Wednesday afternoon, State Minister for Youth and Sports Dr. Biren Sikder, MP inaugurated the tournament as the chief guest.
Moreover, Youth and Sports secretary Md. Asadul Islam, Faraaz’s elder brother Jaref Ayat Hossain, title sponsor Shah Jalal Islami Bank Ltd.’s deputy managing director Abdul Aziz, National Sports Council secretary Md. Masud Karim, BFF General Secretary Abu Nayeem Shohag, tournament committee chairman Hasanuzzaman Khan Bablu, tournament committee member secretary Sheikh Md. Aslam, sports organizer Fazlur Rahman Babul, star footballer Md. Sultan, Khandokar Rokibul Islam, Samsuzzaman Yusuf and other members of the committee were also present at the opening ceremony.
Chief guest, in his inaugural speech, said that Sonali Otit Club’s effort to spread the bravery of Faraaz among the youths of the universities deserves praise. He also hoped that many quality footballers will surface through this tournament who will take the country’s football forward.
After the inaugural ceremony, Fareast University and ULAB competed against each other in the second match of the day in which ULAB beat Fareast 5-4 on penalties after the match had ended 0-0. ULAB’s Soikot was adjudged the man of the match.
Earlier, in the morning, IUB thrashed State University 11-0 in the opening match of the tournament.
Intesar scored a quadruple for IUB whereas Pias scored a hat-trick. The other goals were scored by Tipu, Sayeed, Imran and Imon. Pias was named the best player of the match.
Sheikh Mohammed Aslam, former footballer, the national sports award winner and the member secretary of the tournament committee, informed that they are organising the tournament with their social commitment with the participation of the university students.
Aslam said that their objective of organising the tournament was to encourage the youths to refrain them from the drugs and terrorism and in 2017, the first time they had a huge response.
