KARACHI - As many as 11 local players who played for Pakistan under-13 team in the AFC junior football festival held recently at Yazd City (Iran) were given warm welcome when they returned home by train from Lahore where they had arrived couple of days ago from Tehran. Local football organisers led by Dr A Hamid garlanded the players at Cantonment station while Yacqoob Baloch, Rahim Bux, M Iqbal and many others were also present. Among the 11 was Munir Ashraf who was declared player of the 8-nation tournament. He scored 10 goals in the competition and in just one match against Bhutan he netted five goals. Pakistan won that match by 16-0 margin. Other Karachi players who arrived were Salman Rahim (capt), Zainul Abedin, M Shoaib, Adnan Ashraf, Faisal Hasan, Junaid Javed, Saeed Baloch, Kamran Hussain and Usama Wahid. Bilal Jahangir of Gwadar also arrived with the other members. The PFF had selected the 22-member team through a detailed and long process for the competition. All the 32 coaches of the PFF were advised to recommend three players each for the trials which were held for over 12 days at Lahore.40 players were picked to attend the training camp including 13 Karachi players while 10 Karachi players selected in the team on merit. These players came into limelight when they played the KESC Junior League organised some times ago. Munir Ashraf impressed with his performance in the KESC league. Ali Nawaz, an outstanding striker for PIA, who also played in Dubai was among many who saw talent in Munir Ashraf. Ali Nawaz presented him his track suit and a T shirt in Dubai as a token to talented player. Pakistan won four drew three and lost one match in the competition to finish third. Host Iran finished first, India second, Pakistan third and Afghanistan fourth. Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives and Bhutan were other teams in the contest.