Government Chawmgfianga Middle School of Mizoram edged out Government Model School, Chandigarh, 1-0 to enter the U-14 boys’ semi-finals of the 54th Subroto Cup football tournament at the Ambedkar Stadium on Saturday. Lalawmsanga (44th minute) scored the winner for the Mizoram side, who go up against NCC (NE Region) in the semis. Although schools from Mizoram have won the tournament in the past, this is the first time that Chawmfianga have got to the last four stage. The quarter-final saw a keen contest between the tall, powerful players of Chandigarh and the swift moving boys from the Mizoram school. The Mizoram forwards, who have been dominant over their rivals in their previous matches, yet again created some early moves but the sturdy Chandigarh defenders did well to thwart their moves for most of the game. The deadlock was finally broken by Lalwmsanga who headed in a cross to seal victory. Lalwmsanga is so far the third highest scorer in the tournament so far with nine goals. In the U-17 boys’ category, local team DPS, Vasant Kunj, recovered from the loss in their opening match to post a commanding 4-0 win over LK Higher Secondary School, Tamil Nadu. In other U-17 boys’ matches, North Eastern English School, Manipur, opened their campaign with an easy 6-0 win over Car Nicobar. Mohammad Siraj led the way for Manipur with a hat-trick. Chhattisgarh and Army Boys also won their respective matches. Meanwhile, in the opening match of the girls’ competition, last year’s best female player Offee netted a hat-trick to spearhead title contenders Saiaithanga Memorial School from Aizawl, Mizoram, to a 7-0 thrashing of Shaheed Utkrusht Higher Secondary School, MP. Results: U-17 boys: OM Roy Memorial Higher Secondary School, Meghalaya 1 bt Tripura Sports School, Tripura 0; DPS, Delhi 4 bt LK Higher Secondary School, Tamil Nadu 0; North Eastern English School, Manipur 6 bt Govt Senior Secondary School, Car Nicobar 1; Ramkrishna Vivekanand Vidhyapeeth, Chhattisgarh drew Air Force Bal Bharti School 0 U-14 boys QF: Government Chawmgfianga Middle School, Mizoram 1 bt Govt Model school, Chandigarh 0 Girls: Saiaithanga Memorial School, Mizoram 7 bt Shaheed Utkrusht Higher Secondary School, Madhya Pradesh 0.
