Kuldip Singh, assistant coach, JCT, who has recently undergone AFC ‘B’ Licence coaching course, was the in charge of the team that tasted success by lifting the title. Then, JCT’s Pawan Kumar, who was the goalkeeper as well as striker for the team, was the skipper of the team. Punjab maintained their superiority throughout the championship and did not lose even a single game.
In the preliminary Round (Cluster- III) matches, they went on to beat Orissa by 4-1 on May 1 after which they outplayed Manipur team by 2-0 on May 3 to qualify for the quarterfinal league. Then, in quarterfinal league (Group–B) matches, they defeated Meghalaya team by 3-2 on May 7 and then they recorded victory over Kerala team after beating them by 6-0 on May 9. They faced some resistance from Haryana but were able to draw the match 1-1 on May 11. In this way they entered semifinal as Group B winners. There they met strong title contenders West Bengal but they outclassed them in the match which they won by a solitary goal on May 14.
In the final, they faced the most consistent and powerful team of the tournament- Mizoram. However, Punjab lads held their nerves and then rallied to beat Mizoram team by 3-2 on 16th May. As many as 14 JCT players were playing in the Under-21 team. JCT Academy’s Ajay Singh scored nine goals while Vijay Kumar found the back of the net five times. Midfielders Maninder Singh and Gurpreet Singh scored three and two goals, respectively.