ITANAGAR, Feb 4: Arunachal’s dream run at the Junior (U-19) National Football Championship for BC Roy Trophy was halted when they suffered a heartbreaking 0-1 loss to Jharkhand in the semifinal.
“Jharkhand scored in the ninth minute of the play in a counter attack, which ultimately turned out to be the match winner,” coach Kipa Bharat told this daily over telephone from Himachal Pradesh.
“The boys played very well. They dominated the proceeding from the very beginning till the end. But luck did not favour us today,” he said.
Arunachal remained unbeaten in the group matches. They beat Telengana 1-0 in the opener, trounced Gujarat 4-2 in the second match, and drew with host Himachal Pradesh to secure their place in the semifinals.
Arunachal had made the exit from the same semifinal stage of the championship held in Chhattisgarh in 2015.
