Finalists decided in city of Hyderabad

default

Hyderabad hosted the second leg of the knockout games in the Reliance Foundation Youth Sports football tournament on Wednesday.

The first game of the day witnessed Don Bosco High School (Motinagar) square up against Telangana Sports School in the Junior Boys category. Telangana SS got off the blocks strongly, scoring as early as the seventh minute, and there was no looking back as they racked up five goals in a space of twenty minutes. Don Bosco played well, but were let down by some poor decision-making which Telangana SS duly capitalised on. In the second half, Telangana sat back and defended their lead as they took no chances in securing their passage into the City Championship finals, Bathala Sunil scoring a goal to add to his first-half hattrick to make the scoreline even more assertive. Striker Vankudothu Sharath was adjudged the Player of the Match for his link-up play with Bathala Sunil and for scoring a goal in the process too.

The School Girls game was a closely contested affair between International School and Oakridge International School (Newton Campus), which was won by the former team by two goals to zero. Ummehani Ibtesam scored a brace for International school in the first half which allowed them to control the game and withstand the pressure that OIS applied on them while attempting a comeback. Midfielder Krishna Priya Malladi was awarded the Player of the Game for her performance from the centre of the park.

Gitanjali Senior School took on St. Mary’s Junior College in the Senior Boys semi-final game. The two teams started cautiously as they tried setting a pace, cancelling out each other. The breakthrough came just after the half an hour mark, as Chatan Emmandi scored an opportunistic goal, calmly slotting the ball in the far corner. The teams headed into the break at 1-0. Chatan’s goal served as an impetus to St. Mary’s, as they came out with zeal and vigour, scoring two goals back-to-back. Kalpesh Shah managed to pull one back for Gitanjali SS, but Mohd Amaan Abdul Samad put the finishing touches to his team’s victory with a goal in the 79th minute to confirm St. Mary’s passage to the City Championship finals.

The closest encounter of the day was the College Boys game between Sreenidhi Institute of Science and Technology and Wesley Degree College. The game was locked in the midfield as both teams displayed wonderful gameplay, but some indecision from the keeper saw Lalith Shankar pounce on the opportunity and head into goal just before halftime for Wesley College. Sreenidhi Institute came out raring to go after an inspiring team talk, and found an equaliser in the form of Nagarjuna Kocharla’s brilliantly taken freekick in the 48th min. Nagarjuna’s left foot caused quite the mayhem to the opposition, but they kept him at bay and instead got two goals of their own as they made way to the finals.

The football tournament continued as usual in the pre-knockout stages in multiple venues, with all the updates on www.rfyouthsports.com. Also, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram for exclusive match-day content.