Courtesy: The Muslim News




Muslim women futsal team compete in Your Game

By Our Own Correspondent

You first heard about the Muslim Women’s Sport Foundation (MWSF) back in 2001 when our very own British futsal and badminton teams went to the International Women’s Islamic Games. More recently, the team have been competing on the national stage in tournaments around the country, including the recent Your Game tournament.
Your Game is a tournament organised by the BBC annually and is open to teams on an invitational basis. The tournament had a festival feel to it, with the focus being on engaging with the young team members from communities that are often overlooked. Many of the team’s players explored what the festival had to offer, taking part in the street dance, basketball and boxing demonstrations while taking a break from the football tournament itself, and cheering on the freestylers, including Nike Freestyle Champion Abbas Farid.
The MWSF Futsal Ravens represented the organisation and the community with pride, making it through from the regional tournament to the national finals. The team won two of their four group games to make it through to the semi-finals of the regional tournament, with goals coming from all over the pitch and some fantastic skills to be seen during games. The Ravens’ defensive prowess was on show during the semi-final as the team frustrated their opposition, at least until they were caught out on one occasion after an attack of their own to go one-nil down despite desperate dives from two of their defenders as the ball trickled over the line.
The Ravens may have gone out in the semi-finals of the competition but they were encouraged to remain behind by tournament organisers for the medals ceremony. This left the team expecting, with players excited at the prospect of being named Fair Play Winners and therefore making it through to the national finals at Birmingham City FC’s St Andrews ground. That they did and, on May 19, the team were playing on the recently relegated team’s pitch.
Suffice to say the finals didn’t go as well as had been hoped but there were many positives that came from the team’s involvement. The MWSF Futsal Ravens are: Ayesha Abdeen, Rosemin Abdeen, Rimla Akhtar, Vildane Berani, Mahideh Pourali, Fatima Rahim, Marine Rehman and Iram Sattar.
Rimla Akhtar was selected by the organisers of Your Game to represent the BBC, the Your Game concept and her community both nationally and internationally as a Your Game All-Star. She began her time as an All-Star by recently being invited by the Swiss Embassy to Switzerland to take part in a symposium on sport and social inclusion as well as enjoy the Euro 2008 finals. Rimla was selected in recognition for her extensive involvement as a volunteer in her community.





Posted by Luca Ranocchiari --> luca.ranocchiari@futsalplanet.com