Kota Kinabalu: Tuaran FA won the inaugural Datin Seri Juliah Salag Cup football carnival at the Likas Stadium on Sunday.
They edged Putatan FA 5-4 in the final on penalties after both teams ended the tie at 1-1 in normal time.
The champions took home RM8,000 for the win and the losing finalists received RM5,000 while third place winners Keningau FA who beat UMS 3-2 on penalties in the play off received RM3,000 and the latter received RM1,500.
Earlier in the semi-finals, Tuaran FA defeated UMS 2-1 on penalties and Putatan FA also booked their place in the final with another 2-1 penalties win over Keningau FA.
Tuaran FA’s Henrietta Justine also took home the best player award and teammate Nur Afizah Azke was named the best goalkeeper while UMS’ Cynthia Paulin and Ninas Hasmaji from SSMS Phoenix FC were joint top scorers with four goals.
A total of 17 teams took part in the two-day carnival with the preliminary rounds held at the Sukma fields.
The closing ceremony was graced by Mutiara GRS assistant secretary Datin Adizah Matusuf representing Chief Minister’s wife Datin Seri Julia Salag.
Also present were Sabah Football Association (Safa) deputy president Datuk Awang Kadin Tang, vice president I Datuk Alijus Sipil and Safa’s women football committee chairman, Muhd Arziz Afizy Rumsani.
Meanwhile, Alijus said after the closing ceremony that the tournament was held to serve as a platform to uncover raw talents and to be groomed to represent Sabah and the national team in the future.
“Congratulations to the women football committee for the success in organising the tournament despite the limited time.
“I believe this is going to be an annual event and I hope this is the starting point to produce more football players who can represent the Sabah and national team.
“All this time, Sabah is one of the main states that produce female players to represent the national team and we will continue this tradition,” he said.
He added that the tournament may see some changes in future to suit the needs to allow more players to participate.
“Our main goal is to find as many players as possible. At the moment our venue identifies players only through the Sabah Games (Saga), which is held only every two years.”
Alijus also expressed his gratitude to Jetama Sdn Bhd and other sponsors for their support to ensure the success of the competition.
