17th edition of championship on 9 September

From left: Zahira Past Prefects’ Association President Kaleel Rahman, Zahira Principal Trizviiy Marikkar, Nolimit Marketing Manager Fawaz Mohamed, Assistant Manager Retail Marketing Shafraz Niyas, Senior Executive Retail Marketing Rohan Gunarathna, and Nolimit Zahira Super 16 Project Chairman Washim Ashraff

From left: Zahira Past Prefects’ Association President Kaleel Rahman, Principal Trizviiy Marikkar, Rival Clearing and Freight Forwarding Partner Mohamed Basith, and Nolimit Zahira Super 16 Project Chairman Washim Ashraff

From left: Zahira Past Prefects’ Association President Kaleel Rahman, Zahira Principal Trizviiy Marikkar, Silver sponsor MF Sports Managing Director Mahir Washim Ashraff, Nolimit Zahira Super 16 Project Chairman Washim Ashraff

From left: Zahira Past Prefects’ Association President Kaleel Rahman, Zahira Principal Rizviiy Marikkar, Gold sponsor Smartbiz Managing Director Shariq Farooque, and Nolimit Zahira Super 16 Project Chairman Washim Ashraff

Nolimit Zahira Super 16 Soccer 7’s Championship

By Althaf Nawaz

The 17th Nolimit Zahira Super 16 Soccer 7’s Championship for the 17th consecutive occasion organised by Past Prefects Association (PPA) of Zahira College will be staged at the Race Course International Stadium on 9 September commencing from 8 a.m. onwards. 

The PPA, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary, has extended an invitation to 16 leading football playing schools in the country. The organisers expect to give an opportunity for the youngsters to showcase their talents, skills and abilities in the world’s most popular game. This energetic 7-a-side format of the game will no doubt encourage more football loving fans and enthusiasts to create a gala atmosphere while supporting their preferred team.

With a barren football calendar in the country for the past several months due to the suspension of FSL by FIFA, the game was in the doldrums, and a tournament of this nature will infuse some rejuvenation to restart football and attract large crowds.

The organisers, while playing the under-19 segment with 16 teams, have also focused on the younger lads in the under-12 age category. Here eight teams will be in the fray and battle for honours.

The senior tournament will kick-off from 8 a.m. onwards, while junior matches will be competed from 2:30 p.m. onwards. The under-19 segment will see four teams each slotted in 4 groups and the top teams in each group will move to the Cup segment, second placed to the plate segment and third placed to the bowl segment respectively.

Matches will be played on three pitches with the grand finale scheduled to be played at 5 p.m. the same day. Hosts Zahira, Colombo are the reigning champions, while Darrusalam, Colombo are the runners-up. 

Nolimit, one of the leading franchises in the country, who have expanded their wings to United Arab Emirates, have made a firm commitment to continue as the Title Sponsor, while Rival Clearing (Platinum), Smart Biz Consortium Ltd. (Gold) and MF Sports (Silver) join them as co-sponsors respectively. Apart from them, several other organisations have come on board to anchor this tournament to achieve great success. 

The winners in all three categories (Cup, Bowl and Plate) will carry away the respective championship on offer, while there will be trophies awarded for the Golden Boot and Best goal keeper of the tournament. 

Under-19 Draw 

Group-A: Zahira Colombo, Isipathana, Alethea International, Zahira Gampola

Group-B: Royal Colombo, T.B. Jayah Colombo, De Mazenod, Jaffna, Central

Group-C: St. Benedict’s, S. Thomas’ MTL, St. Joseph’s Colombo, Al Hikma Colombo

Group-D: Darussalam, Maris Stella, Gateway Colombo, Lyceum International

Under-12 Draw

Group-A: Alethea International, T.B. Jayah, S. Thomas’ MTL, Zahira Colombo 

Group-B: St. Joseph’s Colombo, Darussalam, Gateway Colombo, Royal Colombo