Zahira College Colombo emerges runner-up of ” The Ball Blaster” Football Championship 2023 

M.H.Yakeem 

Zahira College Colombo emerged runner-up by losing to Alighar National School Eravur Batticaloa on penalties ( 5/4 ) in an interesting final of ” The Ball Blaster ” under 20 all Island Division 1  football championship 2023, sponsored by Sri Lankan Sports TV, organised and conducted by the Sri-Lanka Schools Football Association, under the guidance of the Ministry of Education, played at the Sugathadasa Stadium last Monday. 

The final was scheduled for the 10th Sunday and the match was played on time, due to heavy rain after 10 minutes of play, the officials decided to call off the match and to replay on the next day ( Monday ) to decide the champions of ” The Ball Blaster ” 2023. The final ended in a thrilling nil-all draw and with the decision on penalties, the Zahira College Colombo striker missing the second penalty kick ended them as the runner-up.

Zahira College Colombo drawn from group 

” B ” along with Baduriya Central College Mawanella, Muslim Central College Kalutara, Jaffna Central College and Alighar National School Eravur Batticaloa emerged as the Champions in the respective group. Qualifying to the knockout stage, they beat Zahira College Gampola by 6 goals to nil in the quarter-final and qualifying to the semi-final, they beat Darussalam College Colombo by 3 goals to 2 in a thrilling contest to qualify for the final. Zahira College Colombo met Alighar National School in the same group in the final, where they beat them in a league match and, unfortunately, lost the game on penalties.