Kolkata school win Mahindra Youth Football Challenge

Kolkata's Sukantanagar Vidyaniketan have won the inaugural Mahindra Youth Football Challenge. They beat local side Government Sports High School from Bangalore 3-1 in the final of the inter-city leg of the under-14 schools tournament at the Bala Gangadharanatha Swamy International Residential School on Saturday.

Sukantanagar Vidyaniketan were impressive throughout the tournament as they won all their five group matches and then went on to win the final. The champions received a champions trophy and prize money of Rs 50,000, while the runners-up also got a trophy and prize money of Rs 30,000.

The six participating schools where - Government Sports High School (Bangalore), CRPF School (Delhi), Infant Jesus High School (Goa), Sukantanagar Vidyaniketan (Kolkata), St Joseph High School (Kozhikode), Don Bosco High School (Mumbai) - who played each other in a round robin league from Monday to Friday and the top two sides meet again on Saturday in the finals at the Sree Kanteerava Stadium.

Individual Player Awards

Man of the Match: Bishal Harijan (Sukantanagar Vidyaniketan)
Best goalkeeper: Akshai R (St Joseph High School)
Best defender: Ashish Turi (Sukantanagar Vidyaniketan)
Best midfielder: Bikash Mallick (Sukantanagar Vidyaniketan)
Best striker: Bishal Harijan (Sukantanagar Vidyaniketan)


Also present were youth coaches from Scottish giants Celtic Glasgow FC, who watched all the matches and picked 22 boys for a four day camp in Bangalore which is currently going on. The best two to four would be flown to Glasgow for up to 10 days to see Celtic in action, their facilities, train with the Academy and more.

Boys selected for Camp

Biswajit Saha, Ashish Turi, Sanjay Bauri, Amit Turi, Bikash Mallick, Samir Karmakar, Jayanto Mondal, Bishal Harijan, Nehal Ahmed, Saif Hussain, Subho Paul (all Sukantanagar Vidyaniketan, Kolkata); Michael, Mani Maran R, Anthony Rushith, Shantosh Kumar (all Government Sports High School, Bangalore); Merick Fernandes, Floyd Periera (both Don Bosco, Mumbai); Akshay R, Roy Rojas (both St. Joseph's, Kerala); Mohammed Aqib, Mukesh Kumar (both CRPF School, Delhi); Brain Rodrigues (Infant Jesus, Goa)