QIB clinches Aspire Banks tournament

Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) clinched the title win of the second edition of Aspire Banks Football Tournament (ABFT) held at the Aspire Zone Foundation (AZF) indoor pitch on Monday after defeating Masraf Al Rayan (MAR) by a single goal.
QIB managed to score early at the beginning of the finale from a dazzling counter attack leaving MAR perplexed for the remainder of the first half. MAR tried hard to get back into the game but their efforts were thwarted by QIB’s goalkeeper.
Meanwhile, Qatar Central Bank (QCB) managed to secure third place at the expense of Doha Bank (DB) after a tough match that ended with the final score of 2-1. QCB dominated the game from the very beginning with an early goal. In the second half, DB scored the equaliser near the end of the second half; however, QCB scored a sudden death goal during the last two minutes to demolish DB’s ambitions for the bronze medal.
The tournament has been a successful partnership between AZF and QCB.
Commenting on the success of ABFT’s second edition, AZF Events manager Abdullah al-Khater said, “I would like to congratulate QIB for their well-deserved win today and I also extend my congratulations to the winners of individual awards. This year’s edition of the tournament has been remarkably improved, and next year we promise to deliver another interesting edition to football fans.”
QCB’s assistant head of Financial and Administrative Affairs, Jassim al-Baker, said, “I would like to thank AZF for the successful organisation of ABFT in response to the demand by several banks to expand previous tournaments held in Ramadan 2014. AZF has developed the tournament greatly to reach this level. This activity provides our employees with an excellent physical exercise to complement our busy work lives. The event is also a perfect place to network and strengthen relations among our employees and with other banks. QCB and AZF have a shared goal that is to encourage our employees to adopt a healthy lifestyle and increase their physical activity.”
At the closing ceremony, apart from the top three teams, many other awards were presented too.
Best Scorer Award was split between Wael Sherif from QCB and MAR’s Mohamed Obidat. QCB’s Mohamed Eissa received the Best Coach Award, while MAR’s Essam Dishari received the Best Administrator Award.
Best Goalkeeper Award went to QIB’s Mami Sheikh.
Qatar Commercial Bank’s Abdallah Abbas was adjudged Most Valuable Player, while Fair Play Award went to Al-Mashreq team.
Top three teams gathered afterwards to receive their medals from AZF and QCB officials headed by al-Khater, al-Baker as well as Hussain al-Qahtani, Lolwa al-Marri, Al Anoud al-Misnad from AZF.
Also, QIB’s chief strategy officer Constantinos Dinos and Administrative Affairs executive director Abdulahadi Mubarak al-Shahwani awarded AZF and QCB representatives as a gesture of appreciation for the successful organisation of the tournament.