Lightning finally strikes

HARD-FOUGHT:Kilat win IFC tourney in fourth attempt

KILAT Veterans finally won the International Football Soccer  (IFC) Veterans 9s when they beat Wednesday FC on  penalty kicks (3-2) after both teams tied 1-1 after regulation  time at the Nongprue Municipality Stadium in Pattaya,  Thailand, recently.

Kilat had earlier defeated Pattaya Police in the semi-finals  2-0, while Wednesday FC defeated X-Mail Veteran FC 1-0 in  the other semifinals.

The final was an evenly contested match, as the inaugural  champions, Wednesday FC determined to win the tournament for the second time around, went on the offensive  from the start and to take the lead.

But Kilat, equally  determined to win the tournament in their fourth attempt,  pulled level to force the winners to be decided on penalty  kicks.

Kilat team manager Azlan David  Elumalai said: "We are elated that we have finally won the championship  in our four attempts."

Kilat, in 2010 when the tournament was held in Kuala  Lumpur, were the Plate champions when they defeated X- Mail Veterans on penalty kicks.

The services of former national and Kuala Lumpur  defender, K. Ramachandran who was the pillar and captain  of the team, together with former KL player S. Mathen and S.  Kanesan and former M-league players from Kelantan, Saidi  Mamat, Hamdi Ibrahim and Baharudin Ghazali, certainly  gave the team the beef.

Wednesday FC, themselves were no pushovers with the  likes of former M-League player Mohd Nazreen Tee Abdullah  on their side, who emerged the top scorer with four goals.  

Wednesday FC play regularly in the social soccer league in  Kuala Lumpur and are among the top teams in the League.

Host IFC who have never won their own tournament,  looked good this year to have a shot, but were derailed in the  quarter-finals by Pattaya Police on penalty kicks (3-2) after  the game ended 0-0.

The tournament itself was a tremendous success and there  is a strong possibility that there will be an increase of teams  next year.

Newly-elected president, Steve Krupa said that it is not easy  to organise a tournament overseas and he thanked his  organising committee members for a job well done where  everything went on smoothly.

In his address to the  teams, Steve said:

"After two years organising the tournament overseas,  there is a strong possibility that the tournament will return to  Malaysian shores.

"However, we have not firmed up on the decision. We are  looking at Malacca or Penang as our next destination, but we  have also an offer to host the meet  in Macau.

"The organising committee will meet soon to decide the venue for  next year's tournament."

IFC, which has been around for 40 years as a social veteran  soccer club, and this year took the tournament to Pattaya,  after having for the first time taken the tournament overseas  in 2011 to Hangzhou, China. The first two tournaments were  held at Club Aman in Kuala Lumpur.

A total of 16 teams - nine teams from Malaysia and seven  from overseas competed in the two-day tournament on April  28 and 29 in Pattaya.

The teams from Malaysia included hosts IFC, Kilat and  Wednesday FC, both who have competed in all four tournaments organised so far, while others included two-time  and defending champions, Uniplast FC, X-Mail Veteran FC,  SSU Kelab Aman and debutants Indian Recreation Club  Seremban, Kris Seremban and Sri Muda Veterans.

The foreign teams comprised Miami Kickers based at  Miami International Airport, South Africa Airway, Qantas  Soccer Club Melbourne, Singha All Stars (Thailand), Pattaya  Police, Centara (Thailand) and Dynasty FC (Macau).

The first day saw all teams drawn into four groups play a  one-round league format where the top two teams from each  group advanced to the Championship knockout round (quarter-final stages), while the bottom two teams played in the  Plate round on the second day.

The championship was declared open by the Deputy Mayor of Nongprue Municipality, Khun Suwach Rachatawattanagul.

Kilat Veterans celebrate after winning the International Football Soccer Veterans 9s in Pattaya recently.

Wednesday FC players pose before their final match against Kilat Veterans. Wednesday lost 3-2 in the penalty shootout.

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