Santosh Trophy 2017 : East Zone Qualifiers – Groups & Fixtures

Santosh Trophy, 2016, East Zone Qualifiers, Nagpur, final round, February, West Bengal, Railways, Sikkim, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, BiharEast Zone qualifiers for Santosh Trophy 2016 was held in Jharkhand. Teams in the East zone are divided into two groups.

West Bengal and Railways qualified for the final round in Nagpur.
Group A : West Bengal, Orissa, Chattisgarh
Group B : Jharkhand, Railways, Sikkim, Bihar
Date Schedule Results
Dec 28
Railways vs Bihar 4-0
Dec 28 Jharkhand vs Sikkim 0-0
Dec 29 West Bengal vs Chattisgarh 2-1
Dec 30 Bihar vs Jharkhand 0-2
Dec 30 Sikkim vs Railways 0-3
Dec 31 Chattisgarh vs Orissa 1-5
Jan 01
Jharkhand vs Railways 1-3
Jan 01 Sikkim vs Bihar 3-0
Jan 02 Orissa vs West Bengal  2-0

#KickForABrick – Chhetri and Ranbir takes the kick!

Lenovo, Sunil Chhetri, Ranbor kapoor, Donosti, Yuwa, Jharkhand, NGO, football, womens football, india, spain, kickforabickAfter the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, the internet is in a frenzy over the #KickForABrick challenge.

While the rest of the world has been busy talking about Iceland’s meteoric rise at the Euro’s 16, Messi’s retirement after Argentina’s loss at the Copa America and other teams such as Germany, Spain, England, Poland etc a section of the Indian audience has been glued on to the #KickForABrick challenge.

 

The video that started it off appeared on Twitter a couple of days ago, and shows Ranbir Kapoor and Mumbai City FC striker & Captain of the Indian Football team Sunil Chhetri passing the ball to one another. They then proceed to challenge their fans to take up the #KickForABrick challenge.

 

 

And here’s the effect it had on fans.

 

From simple kicks

 

 

 

To mind-blowing tricks

 

  To Sketches of footballs made on paper   https://twitter.com/anuragsinha1992/status/749644524012568577   And even human footballs  

 

People have come together to support the YUWA girls in their quest to build a new school.

 

The reason for doing so became clear after we took a closer look at the video. Ranbir and Sunil were heard saying “Every time you kick a ball, the YUWA girls get to add a brick to their new school.

 

A quick google search later, we chanced upon a site where we found out that the girls from the NGO YUWA have travelled all the way to Spain to play at the Donosti Cup-the largest youth football tournament in the world in order to raise funds for their school.
Looks like their story tugged at the internet’s heart strings & sent these people into a #KickForABrick frenzy.

 

And it’s simple to participate. Record your video, send it to +91 7718991766 or upload it on to Facebook & Twitter and challenge your friends using #KickForABrick. For more information, you can log on to http://www.girlswithgoals.in/kick-for-brick

 

And if football, is not your thing, you can simply donate money to fund the YUWA girls’ school on http://girlswithgoals.ketto.org/

 

Santosh Trophy 2016 : East Zone Qualifiers – Groups & Fixtures

Santosh Trophy, 2016, East Zone Qualifiers, Nagpur, final round, February, West Bengal, Railways, Sikkim, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, BiharEast Zone qualifiers for Santosh Trophy 2016 will be held Kolkata. Teams in the East zone are divided into two groups.

West Bengal and Railways qualified for the final round in Nagpur.

Group A : West Bengal, Orissa, Sikkim
Group B : Jharkhand, Railways, Chattisgarh, Bihar
Date Schedule Results
Feb. 08 West Bengal vs Sikkim 2-1
Feb. 9 Railways vs Chattisgarh 1-0
Feb. 9 Bihar vs Jharkhand 0-3
Feb. 10 Sikkim vs Orissa 1-2
Feb.11
Bihar vs Railways 0-3
Feb.11 Chattisgarh vs Jharkhand 1-2
Feb.12 Orissa vs West Bengal 0-3
Feb.13
Chattisgarh vs Bihar 1-2
Feb.13 Jharkhand vs Railways 0-0

 

Heart break for Kerala in the finals (Tier II) of Junior National Football Championship

Image Courtesy : Kerala Coach Purushothaman Thekkathara T G’s facebook profile.

Image Courtesy : Kerala Coach Purushothaman Thekkathara T G’s facebook profile.

Kerala lost to Sports Authority of India team 5-2 in the finals ( Tier 11) Junior National Football Championship for B.C Roy Trophy that was held at Bokaro in Jharkhand.

Kerala was in fine form throughout the championship, scripting huge margin wins against Jammu Kashmir, Rajasthan and then edged out Arunchal Pradesh on a solitary goal in the group stages. In the semifinal Kerala pipped a strong Chandigarh team 3-0.

By the time the kerala team reached the finals, they had scored over 26 goals and conceded none. However, when it came to the final Kerala fell short and lost to the SAI team. The last time Kerala won the Junior National Football Championship was in 1973. This defeat quashed Kerala’s effort to clinch the title again after 30 years. Even though not an excuse, the ground was almost unplayable due to the torrential rain that lashed in Bokaro the day before the finals.

The silver lining however is that by qualifying for the finals of Tier II, Kerala has secured a place in the Tier I of the next edition of  tournament. Kerala’s dismal performance during the recent years had them demoted to the Tier II of the tournament.

Kerala reaches the final of Junior National Championship

Image Courtesy : Kerala Coach Purushothaman Thekkathara T G’s facebook profile.

Image Courtesy : Kerala Coach Purushothaman Thekkathara T G’s facebook profile.

Continuing their great form in the tournament, Kerala team has sailed to the finals of Tier II by defeating Chandigarh 3-0 in the semifinal that took place in Ranchi.

65 minutes of the match was played yesterday before it had to be stopped due to thunderstorms in Ranchi. Kerala was already leading 2-0 in the match and they knocked in one more goal to take the tally to 3-0 in the rest of the 25 minutes that was played today morning.

Kerala will take on the Sports Authority of India (SAI) team in the finals of Tier II.

The malaise of age-fraud makes a return at the Junior National Football Championship

For the last few days rumors were abound on the internet where sources close to various state football associations hurling accusations that certain teams participating in the 49th Junior National Football Championship has over aged players in their team. It was interesting to note that a state run sports body who is fielding their team was also accused of age-fraud.

Putting the rumors to bed is an article from The Telegraph which quotes an AIFF official.

“Bengal are one of the few states, who stuck by the rule book and fielded a side that had footballers within the stipulated age,” said an AIFF official. “Teams like Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Goa, Manipur and Meghalaya also adhered to the age restriction.

“For the rest of the states, it has become a free for all,” claimed the official.

Age-fraud is a serious malaise that needs to curbed else all these national level age-group tournaments turn worthless and associations that comply to the rules are made a laughing stock.

We at Football News India believe, AIFF,  for the greater good of the game should ban State/District associations for a certain period of time if they are found fielding an over-age team in an age-group tournament.

 Quotes in the article is sourced from  – Age-fudging at AIFF meet

Kerala in semis (Tier II) of Junior National Football Championship

Kerala team.
Pic Courtesy : Kerala Coach Purushothaman Thekkathara T G’s facebook profile.

Kerala has been in fine form at the ongoing Junior National Football Championship at Jharkhand. In their last match in Group D, Kerala edged Arunachal Pradesh by a solitary goal. Captain Anatha Murali scored the lone goal against Arunachal Pradesh in the 71st minute of the match. Earlier Kerala had defeated  Jammu & Kashmir and Rajsathan in Group D.

According to reports Kerala will take on Chandigarh in the semifinal of Tier I that will take place on 26th September. Chandigarh from Group B has also been in good form.  Chandigarh defeated Gujarat, Sikkim and Tripura to secure their place in semifinal.

Tamil Nadu announce team for Junior National Championship

250X250_2915920375180d69b6d912Tamil Nadu has announced their 20 member team for the 49th Junior National Football Championship, for BC Roy Trophy.

Tamil Nadu is placed in Group C of Tier I. The other team in the group are Jharkhand, Assam, and Delhi. Tamil Nadu will take on Jharkhand on September 20th, Assam on 22nd September and Delhi on  the 24th of September.

The Tamil Nadu team is as follows :

Team: A John Roshan (goalkeeper), M. Kabilan (goalkeeper), M Udhaya Kumar, P Yuvaraj, R Kumaravel, G Suresh Kumar, R Suganthanraj, S Pretham, S Ahamed Asrarul, A Sikkandar Batcha, S Samu, P Sundara Moorthy, M Raj Kumar, J Ranjith, SA Bebitto, Y Puvirajan, K Gopinath, A Abdul Gafoor, Ajith, Dane Aaron Anthony. Coach: LR Titus.

Delhi and Maharashtra announce squad for Junior National Championship

Delhi and Maharashtra announced squads for the 49th Junior National Football Championship, for BC Roy Trophy.

Delhi Squad : 

Goalkeepers: Varun Bisht, Raju Kumar, Zameer. Defenders: Gaurav Nora, Rishabh Bhandari, Asish Rai, Mukul Mawari, Mannan Balooni.

Midfielders: Rohhit Kumar (captain), Basant, Akash Prasad, Vivek Chhetri, Vijay Malhotra, Shashwat Dev, Hrithik Arora.

Forwards: Safwan Hashmi, Saurav Rawat, Rpshan C, Nitin Joshi, Jai Minocha, Vikrant Bhati.

Delhi is grouped in Tier-I along with Jharkhand, Assam and Tamil Nadu. Delhi’s first match is against Assam on September 20th.

Maharashtra Squad:

Unmed Kumar at, Abhishek Thote, Ebad Ansari, Rohnit Jain, Kartik Yenurkar, Shahu Mandlik, Maz Ansari, Rahul Das, Shushant Jadhav, Kunal Kunder, Sagar Yadav, Advait Shinde, Ashish Sharma, Jitendra Bining, Vineel Poojary, Ashotosh Bane, Gulsher Ansari, Salim Shaikh, Shoaib Ansari, Sagar Waghela (From wifa.in)

Maharashtra plays their first match against Bihar on September 19th.

 

Goa announce team for 49th Junior National Football Championship

GFA_LogoGoa announced the team for 49th Junior National Football Championship, for BC Roy Trophy.

Schubert D’Costa is the captain of the 20 member team. The other members of the team are as follows :

Sherwin da Cunha, Santosh Pujar, Ozen Silva, Cryson Fernandes, Assumption Soares, Liston Fernandes, Samson Pereira, Jesmon Soares, Akeraj Martins, Cliffton Barbosa, Veegam Ferrao, Mahesh Kumar, Leander D’Cunha, John Fernandes, Mathew Colaco, Fleming Dias, Maxsan Fernandes, Anil Shivolkar, Kirtikesh Gadekar.

Coach : Ajay Acharya

Assistant coach/ Manage : Charles Dias.

Goa is grouped in Tier-I along with Punjab, Meghalaya and Karnataka.

In their first match Goa will take on Punjab on September 23rd.

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