Guests and players pose before the kick-off at Bintulu Stadium last Sunday.
BINTULU: Fifteen football teams are competing at the 23rd Petronas Cup tournament in Bintulu which kicked off at Bintulu Stadium last Sunday. This is an increase of five teams compared to last year.
Goals from Shahran Abdul Samad and Shamsul Abdul Samad made the difference as Sime Darby Plantation (SDP) Project Park beat Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) 2-0 in the opening match.
Asean Bintulu Fertilizer Sdn Bhd (ABF) managing director-cum-chief executive officer Lukas Takip performed the kick off. Also present were Malaysia LNG (Plant Division) head Pandai Othman and Bintulu Football Association (Bifa) president Duke Janteng.
Bifa is organising the tournament in collaboration with Petronas.
The 37-match tournament is played at Bintulu Stadium and Universiti Putra Malaysia Bintulu campus football field on Saturdays and Sundays until May.
“This is a platform for us to select talented young footballers to be absorbed into the Bintulu team who will be competing at various tournaments under Football Association of Sarawak and Football Association of Malaysia based on age categories,” said Bifa vice president-cum-tournament coordinator Ismawi Bujang.
“We also hope big companies in Bintulu will come forward and contribute towards the development of football in the division especially for players Under-12, Under-15 and Under-17 including in rural areas,” he added.