New Delhi: Offee Lalmingahualpuia wrote her name in the history books of the 53rd Subroto Cup football tournament when she became the first girls player to score a hat-trick in the inaugural All-India u-17 meet on Monday.

Her triple strike helped Government Mizo High School, Aizwal, Mizoram thrash Our Lady of Rosary High School, Goa in the opening Group I encounter.

Offee Lalmingahualpuia scored the first goal in the 9th minute of the game. The Mizoram team showed complete dominance over their opponents from Goa and subsequently Offee registered two more goals in the 17th and the 42nd minute of play.

After the match, the player said, “ it feels great to see I will have my name in the record book.” Offee further added; “There is immense possibility and talent in girls. Subroto Cup has given us this opportunity to showcase our talent and we are keen to make the most of this opportunity.”

The Subroto Mukherjee Sports Education Society (SMSES) and Indian Air Force had conducted an invitational tournament for girls teams in the National Capital Region in the last year’s edition. The success of that experiment inspired the Indian Air Force to take the tournament pan-India this year and 17 teams from across the country and abroad, are vying for honours this year.

The organisers have also to give a cash award of Rs 10,000 to the top 25 girls selected at the end of the tournament.

In the other Group I encounter, Baroda High School, Gujarat rode on Simran Ahluwalia's 17th minute strike to beat Air Force School, New Delhi 1-0.

In the Group 2 league encounter, Delhi girls from the Ahlcon Public School, Mayur Vihar put up a great fight against Sri Ramkrishna Saratha Higher Sec. School, Salem, Tamil Nadu.

Both the teams played attacking football but some brilliant display by the defenders from both the teams resulted in a 0-0 score at the end of the stipulated 50 minutes of play. 

Results (Group I):

Government Mizo High School, Aizwal, Mizoram 3 (Offee Lalmingahualpuia 9, 17, 42) beat Our Lady of Rosary High School, Goa 0

Baroda High School, Gujarat 1 (Simran Ahluwalia 17) beat Air Force School, New Delhi 0

Ahlcon Public School, Mayur Vihar, Delhi 0 draw Sri Ramkrishna Saratha Higher Sec. School, Salem, Tamil Nadu 0

By Indian Sports News Network