A Padang football festival

A record 120 youth teams from 11 Asian countries descended on the Padang on May 10 and 11 for the Junior Football School & League (JSSL) Singapore International Football 7s tournament.

A total of 10,000 spectators witnessed seven age groups in competition - the boys' B9s, B11s, B12s, B13s and B15s, along with the newly-added girls' category in the G13s and G15s.

The JSSL Arsenal Wilshere teams were the biggest winners of the tournament, claiming the boys' 9s, 11s and 12s titles.

JSSL Arsenal Wilshere defeated GFA Japan 1-0 in the B9s and overcame Bintang Biru Assumption FC from Malaysia 2-1 in the B11s. They also sneaked past F-17 1-0 in the B12 final.

F-17 took revenge in the B12s when they beat JSSL 1-0.

The other trophy the JSSL Arsenal Wishere outfit missed out on was the B15s, which went to the Bangkok Football School from Thailand, who defeated Victory Mandiri from Indonesia 1-0.

GIRLS' WINNERS

In the girls' categories, JSSL Arsenal Hamm beat ANZA Girls 3-0 to be crowned the Girls 13 Cup champions, while Hong Kong's Kowloon Cricket Club conquered the Girls 15s event when they beat Rainforest Girls 2-0.

For the second year running, JSSL Arsenal claimed the Paul Parker Trophy with 48 points.

F-17 were second with 28 points and in joint-third place were Bintang Biru Assumption FC and Bangkok Football School (24 points).

With the success of this year's tournament, organisers JSSL Singapore plan to increase the number of teams next year, while also putting on concerts at the end of the event.

This article was published on May 21 in The New Paper.

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