JEDDAH — International Indian School Jeddah (IISJ) clinched the Peevees Cup beating Yara International Riyadh via tiebreaker in the final here recently. The final round of this under 14 football tournament, organized by Peevees Group of Schools, was hosted by New Al-Wurood International School Jeddah from Dec. 5 to 8. The final rose to the occasion as the finalists fought with passion and fire for glory. The teams showed a lot of resilience and toughness under the floodlights of the Star Football Stadium but failed to find the target in regulation time as well as in extratime, forcing a nerve-wracking tiebreaker. Favorite IISJ, which was frustrated by a never-say-die boys of Yara, however, prevailed in the tiebreaker 5-4 to emerge champion. The losers' final to find out the third best team was yet another cliff-hanger in which IIS Dammam beat host New Al-Wurood International School Jeddah 4-2. Abdul Wahab, chairman of Peevees Group of Schools, was the chief guest. The awarding ceremony was also attended by Jaber Abdul Wahab, director, Peevees Group of Schools; V.P. Mohammed Ali, director, Jeddah National Hospital; and Peevees officials A.M. Ashraf, S.M. Noushad, Principal Sreedevi Menon, Razi Shaikpareeth, K. Rahmathullah, Gopinath Menon and Dr. Firoz Mulla. Sreedevi Menon welcomed the gathering. The chief guest and other invited guests distributed the trophies and certificates to the winners. Nasrudheeen of Yara bagged the best player award. Bayees Basheer of IISD scored 6 goals to emerge as the top scorer of the tournament. The best goalkeeper award went to Mashood Ali of IISJ. Aswin Sreedhar of Al-Khozama International School Dammam was adjudged the promising player of the tournament. Four stunning hat tricks were scored by Tariq Bin Ziyad of NAWIS, Bayees Basheer of IISD, Mohammed Nabeel and Shadin Maliyekkal of IISJ. Before the tournament began, a month-long training session was conducted for the young footballers of three Peevees Group of Schools — Al-Yasmin Riyadh, New Al-Wurood Jeddah and Al-Khozama Dammam which fought into the final round of the championship from the Central, Western and Eastern zones of the Kingdom, respectively. Dr.Firoz Mulla, vice principal, New Al-Wurood International School, proposed a vote of thanks. — SG
