New Delhi: After having completed the Under-14 Boys and Under-17 Girls finals satisfactorily, the focus was turned on the next showpiece event, Junior Boys (Under-17) group matches, which got underway in the 56th Subroto Cup International Football Tournament both at the NWC ground and Ambedkar Stadium today.
Unlike the sub-junior Boys and Junior Girls events which began with proportionately high-scoring matches, the Junior Boys group clashes were yet to reach the crescendo as the opening-day ties proved.
At the Ambedkar Stadium, Bangladesh’s…………defeated Indian Railways 3-0. The foreign team, which made its appearance on the opening day itself, made quite an impression against the Railway boys who failed to stop their opponents. Shakut Hussain scored twice for the winners in the eleventh and 47th minute while Mithun struck once.
Of the morning engagements in four pools, the match between Army Boys Sports Company, Shillong, and St. Xavier’s School, Ahmedabad in pool A, drew attention for the maximum goals scored as the Happy Valley outfit defeated the Naranpura team 9-0. The second team that came close to it was the Town High School from Odisha whose boys beat Government Higher Secondary School from Daman & Diu 8-0 in pool D.
But for these two results, there was some sanity involved in other matches with the winning outfits maintaining a balance.
The Army Boys began on a whirlwind fashion and striking very early against the Ahmedabad boys. It was obvious that the Gujarat boys did not have a clue to stop the marauding opponents, particularly with Saikhand Boro, who did the maximum damage with four goals. Five of his team mates contributed in between to swell their tally.
The Sundargarh schoolboys found their lowly opponents an easy meat as this Pool D match never touched the heights of any standards. Bijoy, who found the target three times and teammate Prasanta, who scored a brace, proved too hot for the Moti Daman team. And three of their teammates also contributed to their scoring as well.
Earlier in the morning, Government Bazaar High School from Lunglei (Mizoram) beat Central Pendam Seniro Secondary School, Sikkim 4-1 in pool C. Amit Tamang scored three times while B. Lalnuntlua and M. Lalrinplua’s brace added put the issue beyond their rivals, despite H.K. Lalhruaitlu reducing the margin for the Sikkim school.
In other matches in the group, Government Senior Secondary School, Malacca (Car Nicobar) went down 0-7 to Father Angel Multipurpose School and Junior College, Maharashtra, while Betkuchi High School form Guwahati held Sports Authority of India East, Salt Lake, to a goalless draw.
Sahil Gharat, Adtya Bhupel and Kasab principal contributors for the Maharashtra team as all the three players scored a brace each. But surprisingly, the SAI East boys failed to keep their reputation of being a decent team when it was held goalless by an interesting bunch of boys from the Assam school team.
Pool B saw Little Angel Paradise School, Manipur, outsmarting the NCC side from Maharashtra when the former won 6-0, with Akloyan Gamba and N. Sushil Kumar sharing the burden.
In pool D, two Delhi schools were engaged but none was able to post a win over their rivals. Mamta Modern Senior Secondary School, Delhi, went down to Mawsura RC Upper Primary School, Nongstoin (Meghalaya) 1-2 when Banwanrog and Dimarknie struck for the winners. The consolation goal for Mamta Modern came from the boots of Avinash.
Similarly, The Shri Ram School, Delhi NCR, lost to 0-5 to Rajgang MN High School from West Bengal. For the Bengal outfit, Somnath scored twice while his teammates struck the other goals.
In other matches at NWC, Air Force Bal Bharti School beat Sainik School 2-1 and Kerala boys beat team from Uttarakhand 4-1.
