In a unique football competition, 17 teams of deaf and hearing-impaired players from five provinces vied for honours at the Indochina Starfish Foundation tournament at the ISF ground on Saturday, with boys from Phnom Penh and girls from Battambang leading the way.

The daylong event saw over 200 players from Phnom Penh, Kampot, Siem Reap, Battambang and Kampong Cham go through the hard-fought preliminaries before the four strongest teams made it to the challange round.

Another event for players with intellectual disabilities from six organisations working with ISF ran alongside it.

DDP’s second string from Phnom Penh prevailed over Krousar Thmey (2) in the final via a penalty shootout after the match ended goalless.

Tola, Narith and Kimbong scored for DDP, while KT’s goals came from Socheat and Chhaynam.

In contrast to the boys’ final, the all-Krousar Thmey clash between Battambang and Phnom Penh was totally one-sided, with the visitors thrashing the locals 5-0.

A hat-trick from Pisey and a brace from Thavy boosted the Battambang tally.