St. Patrick’s High School, Jharkhand defend their Junior (U 17) Girls Subroto Cup title

Khel Today Bureau 

New Delhi: St. Patrick’s High School, Gumla, Jharkhand defended their title in the 62^nd Subroto Cup Junior (U 17) Girls Inter School International Football Tournament defeating G.S.S.S Alakhpura, Bhiwani, Haryana 3-0 in an exciting final played here at the Dr.B.R Ambedkar Stadium. Anita Dungdung scored twice while Shaulina Dang scored the third for the winners. Air Marshal A.P Singh PVSM, AVSM, Vice Chief of the Air Staff, who had kindly consented to be the Chief Guest, presented the trophy to the winning team.

Speaking on the occasion, Air Marshal A.P Singh PVSM, AVSM, Vice Chief of the Air Staff said, “The tournament is an ideal arena for the children to enhance their playing skills and to interact with each other culturally and socially. This sporting event is conducted every year with a vision to inculcate sportsman spirit and provide an incredible opportunity to the school children across the country to showcase their talent at such a national platform and more importantly as we saw today, to the girls of the country. I congratulate all the participating teams, especially the finalists for such an exciting final for everyone”.

There were several awards including cash prizes, given out at the end of the final. The Fair Play Trophy and cheque of Rs.50,000 was presented to Vasant Valley School, New Delhi by W/O Late HFO V.N Singh. Suraj Muni of St. Patrick’s High School, Jharkhand was awarded the Safe Hand Trophy for the best goalkeeper and a cheque of Rs.25,000. The Best Coach cheque of Rs. 25,000 was awarded to Beena Kerketa of St. Patrick’s High School, Jharkhand. G.S.S.S Alakhpura, Bhiwani, Haryana was awarded a cheque of Rs.40,000 for the Best School. Anita Dungdung of St. Patrick’s High School, Jharkhand was awarded the Best Player Trophy and a cheque of Rs.40,000.

The Runner’s Up of the tournament received Rs. 2,00,000 along with the runners up trophy, which was presented by Air Marshal P.K Ghosh, Director General (Administration). The Winners of the Subroto Cup were presented the Winner’s Trophy by the Chief Guest along with a cheque of Rs. 3,50,000.

St. Patrick’s High School, Gumla, Jharkhand – 3

G.S.S.S Alakhpura, Bhiwani, Haryana – 0

St. Patrick’s shocked the Haryana defence within seconds of the start of the match, with Anita Dungdung finding the early goal to give a perfect start for the defending champions. They doubled the lead minutes later through Shaulina Dang. Anita’s shot was saved by Haryana goalkeeper Manisha, but the ball fell kindly for Shaulina who calmly finished for the second goal. The school from Jharkhand were dominating the possession and were looking the better side, as G.S.S.S Haryana found it difficult to find any footing in the match. St. Patrick’s scored their third goal to give them a comfortable position in the match. Riya Verma found Anita in the right wing through one of her angled balls. Anita’s left footer found the goal, giving the Haryana keeper no chances. Alpha Kandulna could have added a fourth before half time but her effort, dribbling past three defenders, came back off the crossbar.

Haryana started the second half better moving the ball forward with better precision. They came close to scoring from a corner, but Rishika’s effort came back off the crossbar. There were no clear cut chances for either teams as Jharkhand maintained possession and ensured that the title will be back in their school for one more year.

A total of 32 teams including a team from Bangladesh participated in the Junior Girls (U 17) category of this edition’s Subroto Cup. For the first time in the girl’s category, a team from Jammu and Kashmir, DNRM G.G.H.S.S Poonch participated in the tournament.