Papum Pare, Namsai tie in first league match
[Staff Reporter]
ITANAGAR, Jul 18: The second U-17 girls’ and the 8th U-17 boys’ State Level Subroto Mukerjee Cup Football Tournament got underway at the Dera Natung Government College playground here on Thursday.
Kicking off the tournament, Education Minister Taba Tedir urged the teams to focus on sports as careers, along with their academic pursuits. Also a founding member of the Arunachal Olympic Association, Tedir highlighted the job reservations and government facilities provided to meritorious sportspersons by the state government.
Secondary Education Director Gania Leij announced that the education department will organize a tournament within the next three months for U-17 government school students, which will include sports such as kho-kho, archery, Taekwondo, weightlifting, etc.
The tournament opened with defending champions Papum Pare district playing against Namsai district. Giving a tough fight to last year’s winners, the match ended in a 1-1 draw.
In the following matches, Kra Daadi defeated Lower Dibang Valley by 4-0 goals.
The girls’ team from East Siang and Siang won their respective matches against Lohit and Longding, respectively. Both matches witnessed scores of 5-0 goals.
While Kamle defeated West Kameng by 6-0 goals, Capital Complex won against Changlang by a large margin of 10-0 goals.
In the final match of the day, East Kameng won with the highest score of 14-0 goals against Tirap.
All the players are students of government secondary and higher secondary schools, representing their respective districts in the state level tournament.
Twenty districts are participating in the tournament. They are Siang, Upper Siang, Lower Siang, West Siang, East Siang, Papum Pare, Namsai, Lower Dibang Valley, Capital Complex, Anjaw, Changlang, East Kameng, Lower Subansiri, Lohit, Kamle, Longding, Tirap, Kurung Kumey, Kra Daadi and West Kameng.
Tawang, Upper Subansiri and Dibang Valley were unable to participate in the tournament due to bad weather conditions or road blocks.
The matches for the boys will begin after the end of the girls’ tournament after 23 July and continue till 30 July at the Rajiv Gandhi Government Polytechnic College playground.
Meanwhile, the final match of the U-17 (boys) Subroto Mukerjee Cup Football Tournament was played at Boleng in Siang district between government higher secondary school, Pessing, and government secondary school, Boleng, which the former won by 3-1.
Attending the programme there, Siang DC Rajeev Takuk advised the players to maintain the spirit of true sportsmanship. Exhorting them to give due emphasis to studies, he urged the students to strike a balance between studies and sports. (With DIPRO inputs)
