Sambalpur XI win Inter-State football tourney

Lanjigarh, Dec 12: The week-long Inter-State Knock-out Football Tournament-2018, organised by Sibaram Yuvak Sangh, Chandanpur, in association with Vedanta Limited, Lanjigarh, witnessed its nail-biting finale between Sambalpur Eleven and East Coast Railway, Visakhapatnam at Chandanpur Playground today.

      The exciting match between the two teams was decided with penalty shootouts which kept the audience on their toes. Sambalpur’s team won the match with the final score of 4-3.

      Chief Guest Kalahandi SP B Gangadhar, SP-Kalahandi, handed over the winning trophy to Sambalpur Eleven along with a cash prize of Rs. 30,000.

      Rakesh Mohan, COO-Vedanta Lanjigarh; Jagtap, Inspector-in-Charge, RPF-Muniguda; Sanjeev Kumar, Director-External Affairs; Rajeev Ranjan, Head Security; Harmeet Sehra, Chief Community Development Officer; Sridhar Pesnia, ex-Vice Chairperson, Lanjigarh Block; Chandradwaja Pesnia and Khiraladhi Sahu, ex-Chairperson, Lanjigarh Block were present at the function.

The runners-up team were awarded with a cash prize of Rs. 20,000 and a trophy.

Bishnu was adjudged as the Player-of-the- Match while Ganesh, playing for Visakhapatnam’s team, was declared the Goalkeeper of the Tournament.

Manoj Patra of Chandanpur’s team was recognised as Best Defender of the tournament.

      The participating teams expressed their appreciation towards the platform facilitated by Vedanta to display their skills and sportsmanship.

Gangadhar applauded Vedanta’s efforts to create and facilitate inspiring opportunities for sportsmen to showcase their talent and prowess.

Rakesh Mohan reiterated on Vedanta’s commitment in bringing the community together through sports.

      Eight teams from states of Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Andhra Pradesh participated in this tournament, which included Jaga United Club-Bhubaneswar, Sambalpur Eleven, S.Y.S.-Chandanpur, Bhilai-Chhattisgarh, Bajara United Club-Jamshedpur, Patakha Sporting Club-Anugul, BudhaSambra Sporting Club-Bargarh and East Coast Railway-Visakhapatnam.

During the week-long tournament, a women’s friendly/exhibition match between Jharsuguda and Sambalpur was also organised to encourage football among girls.

Present among others were Prahallad Naik, Village Head Gopinathpur; Karunakar Pradhani, Village Head Chandanpur; community volunteers, children and other senior officials of Vedanta.

Referees Nabin Nayak, Santosha Nanda Nayak,  Manoj Biswal, and Seerish Nayak conducted the games.