By Aqib Khawaja
The 4th edition of the Poonch Premier League (PPL) concluded yesterday with the Poonch Royals emerging victorious in a closely contested final that was decided in the very last ball. The Poonch Roaring Lions were the runners-up. A total of 10 teams participated in this auction-based league the first and largest of its kind in Jammu & Kashmir modeled after the IPL. Over the course of the league 39 matches were played.
During the closing ceremony of the final match the Chief Guest was CPO Poonch Jnb Mohd Rafique Malik.
The Chief Guest during his address congratulated the management committee for organizing such a significant event to involve youth in sports activities.
The Guests of Honour included Nirdosh Kumar Sharma (Manager Sports Stadium Poonch) Mushtaq Ahmed (Manager Indoor Stadium Poonch) Zakir Hussain (Senior Assistant Sports Council Poonch) and Rajinder Singh Toofan (PEM Youth Services and Sports Department). The Chairman of the Poonch Premier League, Pervaiz Malik Afridi extended his gratitude to all the guests.
Live coverage of the final match was provided by Ayaz Ahmed Sachin Sharma and Basit Rathore while Ajaz Ahmed Malik entertained the crowd with his commentary.
The Management Committee of the Poonch Premier League included Engineer Kamran Qadri Sayed Tait Waseem Mumtaz Khan Sayed Imran Shah Nisar Khwaja Ashfaq Bajar and Abinav Sharma
Shabir Malik Manzoor Lone Manzoor Rather Ajaz Malik Mukhtar Irfan Yousaf Javed Ahmed Irfan Manhas Waseem Kohli
This 4th edition of the tournament held consecutively over the years has made history.
The aim of such tournaments is to keep the youth away from drugs evil influences and anti-national activities. Chairman PPL Pervaiz Malik Afridi expressed his heartfelt thanks to everyone involved particularly the Department of Youth Services and Sports for providing officials for the tournament the J&K Sports Council for providing the ground the District Administration the Police Department all sponsors and especially Pervaiz Mughal sab who is dedicated to supporting the youth. He also thanked all the team owners for their involvement.
