Afghan Sports Federation Holds Eighth Annual Soccer & Volleyball Tournament

WASHINGTON, July 19 -- The Afghan Sports Federation held its 8th Annual Soccer & Volleyball tournament for the Afghan-American community at Poplar Tree Park in the Washington metropolitan area. Members of the Afghan-American community from all over the US gathered in a four-day sporting event that has become a traditional gathering for all.

The four-day event, which began on July 1st, came to a conclusion on Monday July 4th, 2005. Soccer and volleyball finals for men and women as well as youth exhibition games including the participation of 3 young girls from Afghanistan were played. The championship game was played between Afghan Premiere of California and Afghan United of Virginia. After a very intense and interesting match, the Afghan Premiere of California took home the championship trophy with a final score of 1 to 0.

A live concert by a famous Afghan Singer, Hasib Ashrafi, and spectacular fire works ended the celebration late Monday night. The program started early in the afternoon, corporate sponsors and local food vendors got ready for the spectators that had come from all over the US gathered in one place to watch the games and see each other in an event that has become a tradition among Afghans living in the United States.

Sulaiman Lutfi, ASF Vice-President and Commissioner of Afghan Soccer League, said: “Our primary goal is to unite the Afghan community through sports and have our young people connect with their communities and peers in a healthy environment”.

The Voice of America and Radio Free Europe that have live broadcast inside Afghanistan extensively covered the event. Also, the local Afghan televisions Asmayee and Ariana covered this event extensively.

After the final games, trophies and medals were awarded to the winners. This year ASF had the honor of having distinguished guests handing out trophies and medals to the winning teams and players. Former Afghanistan Education Minister Dr. Qayum Khan handed volleyball trophies. H.E. former US Ambassador to Afghanistan and current Ambassador to Irag Dr. Zalamy Khalilzad and Afghanistan’s Ambassador to the US H.E. Sayed Tayeb Jawad jointly handed out Soccer trophies and medals to the winning teams and players on behalf of the Afghan Sports Federation.

In a brief speech, the Afghan Ambassador, H.E. Sayed Tayeb Jawad expressed his love for the game of soccer and was joyful to see Afghanistan once again join the International sporting community in the Olympic games of 2004 in Athens.

While celebrating Independence Day on this 4th of July, in his comments, H.E. Dr. Khalizad, compared the difficulties facing Afghanistan today to the young American Republic over 200 years ago and was optimistic for the future of a better Afghanistan.

At the end of the event, the President of the Afghan Sports Federation, Ajmal Ghani, thanked all distinguished guests and audiences for their participation in making this event more successful than ever before. He said: “I attributed the success of ASF to the tireless efforts and participation of ASF members and management.”

For more information please visit: http://www.AfghanSportsFederation.org

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Contact: Ajmal Ghani, ASF President: AjmalGhani@hotmail.com

Sulaiman Lutfi, ASF Vice-President & ASL Commissioner: sulaiman@trivision.tv

Atiq Panjshiri, ASF Executive Director & Treasurer: info@afghansportsfederation.org

Contact Information

Ajmal Ghani, Sulaiman Lutfi or Atiq Panjshiri

Media Contact

Afghan Sports Federation

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