Punjab soccer team lifts the prestigious championship trophy
Port Blair, Jan. 3: The prestigious 58th SGFI National Football Championship-2012-13 for U-19 years Boys, organized by the Directorate of Education, A&N Administration from 26th December 2012, at Netaji Stadium concluded today with the Lt Governor, Lt Gen (Retd.) Bhopinder Singh, PVSM, AVSM declaring the championship closed. He also gave away trophies and certificates to the winners of the championship and other participants in presence of the First Lady of these Islands, Smt Bhawanee Singh. In an exciting final match played between Punjab and Odisha teams, Punjab U-19 school football team lifted the prestigious Championship trophy by defeating Odisha football team in a tie breaker.
Speaking on the occasion, the Lt. Governor extended New Year good wishes to all the participants of the tournament. He stated that football is the most popular sports in our Islands and our football team have won several championships at the National level. The Islands had produced many national level footballers and a good number of footballers have even represented our country in various football championships at International level. He had special words of appreciation for Kumari Deborah and Kumari Martha for winning gold medals in Girls Cycling championship at New Delhi. The Lt Governor appreciated the Islands school team for winning the best marching contingent award, well disciplined team award, fair play award and certificate of ‘Admiration’ for best organization award continuously for the last two years. He called upon the participants to take home sweet memories of their stay in the Islands and encourage their friends and relatives to visit the Islands, which is a pilgrimage place. An impressive cultural programme presented by the school students enthralls the gathering.
Earlier, welcoming the chief guest and others, the Secretary (Education), Shri D. N. Singh informed that 25 teams of different states of the country participated in the 9 days championship. 35 matches were held and 435 players participated. The function concluded with the vote of thanks proposed by the Director of Education, Dr. Dev Das.