RIYADH, March 27, 2000 Al Smari team captured the Safa Makkah
Clinic Rolling trophy when they beat Star Sports club by a comfortable margin of four
goals to one in the recently concluded NSV soccer tournament at the Dabbab ground.
The hero of the day was Abdul Latheef, the captain of the new champions. He not only gave
them the lead in the first half but also went on to score three beautiful goals in the
second session thus recording the first hat trick of the tournament to the delight of the
fans.
In addition to
the large Friday crowd, the notables who graced the climax were Dr. Abdul Jaleel Al
Smari Poly Clinic, K. S. Rajan marketing manager of Saudi Catering, Shafi
manager, Safa Makkah Clinic, Basheer Peediyekkal, Dr. Rafi John, P. K. C. Rauf, A. Sakeer,
Nixon Varghees, Muhamood Abbas and Abraham Mathew. Amidst loud cheers, the championship
trophy was presented to the Latheef by Rajan while Shaji gave away the runner up trophy to
the Star Sports team skipper. Many individual prizes were presented to the players based
on their performances during the course of the tournament by Peediyekkal, Ashraf, Dr.
John, Rauf, Sakeer, Varghees, Abbas and Mathew. Latheef also collected the best player
award. Shamsheer of Star Sports bagged the best defender trophy. A special award, which
was sponsored by Pravasi Samrakshana Samithy for the best Pravasi Sports Man of the year,
was won by P. C. Ali, the president of the Central Brothers club. Winding up the
proceedings, words of praise were also aired for the committee members, which managed the
show successfully. They were M. T. Ashraf, Ayyub Khan Vizhimjam, Shakeeb, Ashraf Kokkadam,
Ashraf, E. K. Rasool Salam, Madhu Soodanam Nair, Ashraf Vadakkerila, Shihab Mundakkayam,
Kammu Chemmad, P. C. Ali, Jamal Panaroor, K. A. Rahmanand Louis Sebastian.