Ashoknagar Vidyasagar Bani Bhaban crowned champions of MYFC 2013

Beat Don Bosco, Panjim 4 – 1

This is the third consecutive MYFC title won by a Kolkata based school

Bangalore, April 22, 2013:

Kolkata’s Ashoknagar Vidyasagar Bani Bhaban was crowned Champion of the Mahindra Youth Football Challenge 2013 at the Bangalore Football Stadium, today. This is the third consecutive MYFC title won by a Kolkata based school. While Sukantanagar Vidhya Niketan won the inaugural edition in 2011, Pandua SBS High School triumphed last year. The tournament gave India’s finest under-14 football players from schools across six Indian cities a wonderful opportunity to display their skills and battle it out in a series of highly competitive matches.

The Mahindra Youth Football Challenge is the Mahindra Group’s commitment to promote football at the grassroots level. The company has partnered with Scottish football giants, Celtic Football Club, who will take on the responsibility of training and developing young talent identified through the initiative.

Mohammad Habib, Umesh Das and Sumit Das stole the limelight with their superlative performances to help fashion a 4 -1 victory over Don Bosco High School Panjim to emerge champions. The Kolkata team had impressed coaches from Celtic FC and onlookers with their excellent performances that proved too strong for their counterparts from Goa.

In a first half that was marked by a high-speed attacking game by Kolkata, the prolific Umesh Das scored the first goal with a sharp hit that caught the Panjim goalkeeper unaware in the 3^rd minute of the game. In the 13^th minute, this was followed by a second by striker Habib. The boys continued to show case their unbeatable skill as a third goal was scored off a rebound by striker Sumit Das and a fourth off a header by Mohammad Habib shortly before half time.

The second half was characterized by better-quality defence by the team from Panjim. Trailing four goals to none, the boys from Don Bosco took the field with rejuvenated vigour which resulted in a confidence-building goal by Glevito S. Miranda in the 49th minute of the final match. However, the efforts were not enough to turn the game in their favour. Umesh Das from Kolkata was adjudged the Star Performer of the match for his outstanding performance in the high-pressure match.

Ashoknagar Vidyasagar Bani Bhaban Kolkata took home Rs 50,000 and a glittering trophy for their efforts while runner-up Don Bosco High School Panjim won a prize of Rs 30,000.

St. Joseph’s Higher Secondary School Calicut’s Leon Augustine was adjudged the best striker, while the best goalkeeper award went to Aaron Koli of Don Bosco High School, Mumbai; Md. Habib of Ashoknagar Vidyasagar Bani Bhaban Kolkata was named best Midfielder, while the best defender was Suman Dutta from Kolkata.

The winners received the trophies and certificates from chief guests A. R. Khalil (Vice President, All Indian Football Federation and President, Karnataka State Football Association), Carlton Chapman, Ex-Indian Captain, Vivek B Singh, JT. Managing Director – Procam International Ltd, Jose Baretto, former I-League player, Satish Pillai, Dhyanchand awardee for athletics and Bronze medalist Asian Games.

The list of 22 players short-listed for the 4 day training camp was also announced. To be conducted under the watchful eyes of coaches from Celtic FC, 2 – 4 boys will be chosen to travel to Glasgow to train at the home of Celtic FC.

Result: Ashoknagar Vidyasagar Bani Bhaban (Kolkata) 4 (Mohammad Habib 2, Umesh Das 1; Sumit Das 1) bt Don Bosco High School, Panjim, Goa 1 (Glevito S Miranda 1).

List of shortlisted players

Player	City
Bijoy Banik	Kolkata
Aaron Koli	Mumbai
Lazim Ali	Kerala
Suman Dutta	Kolkata
Dhiraj Chauhan	Goa
Pavan Chitta	Bangalore
Umesh Das	Kolkata
Rudraksh Bajaj	Delhi
Rahul Swami	Mumbai
Sunil Rajbangshi	Kolkata
Leon Augustine	Kerala
Glevito S Miranda	Goa
Keshab Das Munshi	Kolkata
Kapil Tyagi	Bangalore
Nuchiketta Dutt	Bangalore
Shantanu Debnath	Kolkata
Nathan Fernandes	Mumbai
Kiera James Kenneth Adams	Bangalore
Mohammad Habib	Kolkata
Javed Hasan	Kerala
Aryaman Singh Kanwar	Bangalore
Sandeep Roy	Kolkata