Search
 
Home | About Us | Career | Privacy Policy | Contact Us
Editor Sanatan Pani
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 NEWS :

Back to Previous Page
  Services regain Santosh Trophy after 51 years
28 May 2012 CUTTACK
 

Services regained the Santosh Trophy after a long gap of 51 years, beating Tamil Nadu 3-2 in the final of the 66th Senior National Football Championship here at the floodlit Barabati Stadium today. A goal each by Sanju Subba (45th), Subrata Sarkar (49th) and VV Farhad (67th) put the aggressive Services side in the driver’s seat.

But making a late fight back, Tamil Nadu pulled two goals back through Santa Kumar (82nd), M Ramesh (89th) to provide much needed excitement to the summit clash. But the wait to win their maiden title continued for Tamil Nadu as Services successfully defended their one-goal lead till the final whistle.

Led by Gordon Zoramchhana, Services lifted the coveted silver trophy along with a cash prize of Rs 5 lakhs, while Tamil Nadu contended with the runners-up prize of Rs 3 lakhs. Services mid-fielder VV Farhad was awarded as the player of the final.

Odisha Sports Minister Badri Narayan Patra handed over the glittering trophy and mementos at the closing function, which witnessed colourful fireworks. School and Mass Education Minister Pratap Jena, AIFF vice-president Subrat Dutta, State Sports Director Saswat Mishra, East Coast Railway Sports Association president Dilip Samantaray, Odisha Olympic Association secretary Asirbad Behera, host Odisha Football Association president Debasish Samantaray, secretary Sanjay Behera and Cuttack Mayor Soumendra Ghosh were present on the occasion.

Odisha hosted the championship for the fourth time, the last three times being in 1967, 1981 and 1994. Altogether 34 teams participated in the championship, which featured a total of 60 matches. Earlier in the semifinals, Services beat Kerala 2-1, while Tamil Nadu defeated Manipur 2-0.

With All India Football Federation (AIFF) keeping I-League players and India probables away from Santosh Trophy, the championship served as an ideal platform for lesser-known talents to come to the fore and book their tickets for the I-League and the National side eventually.

The absence of I-League stars was also the reason for which traditional superpowers such as 31-time champions Bengal, Goa, Punjab and Kerala fell by wayside, while teams not having I-League clubs or India caps made it to the summit clash.
 

Host Odisha, led by Basant Swain, put up good performance but only to miss the semifinal berth narrowly. Starting their campaign directly from the quarterfinals, Odisha beat Chhattisgarh 4-0 thanks to a hat-trick by Gokul Oram. One more win would have carried them to the last-four round. But that was not to be as their next two league matches against Haryana and Services ended in 1-1 identical draws.
Former international Rajendra Prasad Singh as coach, Akshay Das as assistant coach and Ashok Kumar Panda as goalkeeping coach did competent job for the Odisha team.

ODISHA TEAM: Saroj Pradhan, Hrushikesh Behera, Seikh Shabaz Alam, Susant Jena, Seikh Zaheed, Rajak Nag (all Cuttack); Blacky Lakra, Jayjeet Mohanty, Maheswar Das (East Cost Railway); Basant Kumar Swain, Kedar Singh, Sanjit Panna (all Bhubaneswar); Rupei Hansda, Antu Murmu, Shasi Toppa (all Sundargarh); Sanatan Lohar, Santosh Naik (both Phulbani); Ramesh Chandra Nayak, Manoj Kumar Das (both Angul), Gokul Oram (Sambalpur).
----------------------------------------- PHOTOS -----------------------------------------
TOP: Services players celebrate their Santosh Trophy triumph in Cuttack on May 28, 2012.
RIGHT: Odisha team at the 66th Santosh Trophy Championship in Cuttack.
 
   
Post Comment

Copyright @ Orisports.com Powered by: KDC TECHNOLOGIES