Manipur State league resumes

Imphal, February 8 : The 4th Manipur State League football tournament resumed today at Khuman lampak Main stadium with both the second leg matches ending in draws.

The first match featuring TRAU, Kwakeithel and YWC, langthabal failed to produce an outright winner as a 47th minute David Kamson goal in the former's home match was neutralised by YWC's L Ibungobi in the 74th minute.

TRAU had won the first leg tie 3-1 .

Home side SSU, Singjamei could not repeat its first leg 2-0 win over TRUGPU, Nambol and settled for a goalless draw against the CC Meet finalist in the other match played today.

READ MORE - Manipur State league resumes

Manipur lift T Ao football crown

DIMAPUR: Favourites Manipur lifted the inaugural Dr T Ao Football Trophy after defeating hosts Nagaland 2-0 in the final at DDSC stadium on Thursday.

Ngoubo Singh put Manipur ahead in the 27 minute when he found the net from a free kick. In the 52nd minute, Manipur captain Nilakumar scored the second goal for the winners.

The result was disappointing for the home crowd, who had gathered at the Dimapur District Sports Council (DDSC) stadium.

Manipur earned Rs seven lakh as prize money while the runners-up got Rs four lakh. The tournament witnessed participation from all the eight NE states.

Tripura, riding on Kiron Chattri's hat-trick had clinched the third place after defeating Meghalaya 3-0 on Wednesday.

Kiron was also the top scorer of the tournament with 14 goals while Manipur striker Malemnganba Metei scored eight and Nagaland's Sakutemjen scored seven goals.

The tournament was named after legendary Naga footballer Dr Talimeren Ao.

Nagaland governor Nikhil Kumar and chief minister Neiphiu Rio and Meghalaya deputy chief minister BM Lanong gave away prizes to the winning teams and individual players.

Dr Ao, who led the independent India's football squad in 1948 London Olympics, played for Mohan Bagun from 1942 to 1949 while studying at Kar Medical College, Kolkata.

The barefoot Olympian who captained the Bagan XI during 1947-49, was first Naga MBBS and retired as the state director of health and medical services.

READ MORE - Manipur lift T Ao football crown

Manipur State League football

Imphal, October 28 : Defending champion NISA, Thangmeiband scripted a solitary goal victory against USA, Khurai to remain on top of the points table in the 4th Manipur State League football tournament.

The NISA triumph in a seventh round match played today was fetched by L Ibotomba with a 75th minute goal.

In the other matches played at the same venue, H Chakravorti scored three goals in NEROCA's 9-1 thrashing of PYC, Phoudel while TRAU, Kwakeithel outplayed YWC, Thambalkhong 3-1 .

At Khuman lampak Main stadium where similar number of matches were played today, SSU (Singjamei) pipped MBSU, Wahengbam Leikai 3-2; AIM, Khabam also over-came MPSC 3-2 and ESU, Wangkhei downed TRUGPU, nambol by a solitary goal.

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Manipur lifts 1st All India Women's Football Championship

Gangtok, Oct 16 : Manipur lifted the first All India Women's Football Championship by defeating Orissa on a tie-breaker in the final match played at Paljor Stadium here today.

Manipur converted three of their five penalty shots while Orissa could convert only two and the final score read 3-2 in favour of the Northeastern team.

Earlier, both sides were locked in a goalless draw despite several chances that saw goal-bound shots rebounding from the bar four times during the match.

With the game ending 0-0, the match was decided over penalties where the Manipuri team prevailed over Orissa. The lady of the tournament was given to Susmita Mallik of Orissa.

Highest scorer of the tournament went to I Parmeshwari Devi of Manipur with ten goals.
The best player of the tournament went to Orissa goalkeeper Seeta Sharma.

READ MORE - Manipur lifts 1st All India Women's Football Championship

Manipur defeats Sikkim 'Red', enter semis

Gangtok, Oct 11 (PTI) Manipur today defeated Sikkim 'Red' 3-0 to top the Group A with nine points, while Group B match between Tamil Nadu and West Bengal was drawn 1-1 in the first Pempa Dorjee Memorial All India Women's Football tournament at Paljor Stadium here.

Prameshwari Devi (2) and S Rina Roy Devi (1) scored for Manipur, who have not conceded a single goal in three matches and scored 25 till now in the tournament.

Sikkim 'Red' and Assam, having three points apiece, will play against each other tomorrow in a crucial tie that will decide the second semifinalist from Group A, after Manipur.

Tamil Nadu and West Bengal shared one point each after they played out a 1-1 draw. Tamil Nadu established 1-0 lead in the 46th minute from a goal by Angal Adolfes.

Soma Seal struck the equaliser in the 69th minute.

READ MORE - Manipur defeats Sikkim 'Red', enter semis

Manipur swept off West Bengal 7-0

IMPHAL, Oct 5 : Manipur crushed West Bengal 7-0 goals in the group A quarter final league match being played today at Haldwani, Uttarkhand in the ongoing 6th Sub-Junior Girls National Football Championship 2009.

Dangmei Grace, Binomala, D Grace, Romi, Bijita were the scorers of Manipur who could score at 11th, and 39th minutes of the match 39th, 40th and again Binomala scored at 34th, 48th and 65th minutes of the match.

Quarter final league match is also scheduled to play between Manipur and Pondicherry on October 6, 2009, said a release.

READ MORE - Manipur swept off West Bengal 7-0

2-0 victory for Manipur Police

Veteran football

Imphal, June 3: Manipur Police Veteran Football Association moved into the quarter-final today defeating XI Star Sporting Union by 2-0 goals in the 11th Challenge Cup Veteran Football Tournament played at Mapal Kangjeibung.

With the completion of the league round today, Manipur Police Veteran Football Association collected 13 points, while Nambol Areas Veteran Sporting Association (10 points), Utlou Luksa (10 points) and Football Veteran Welfare Association with seven points made it to the quarter-finals from group A.

From group B, Nagaland Veteran Football Association emerged on top with 11 points followed by North Eastern Veteran Football Association, Chingtam Veteran and Higher Education Veteran Football Association (all with six points). The quarter-finals will begin tomorrow.

Manipur Police veterans took their time today for want of combination in the front but luck shone in the 26th minute with forward Rajen Khanganba scoring the first goal for his team.

The XI Star Veteran Sporting Union, despite making some hard run throughout the game, could not find their target.

In the second half, Manipur Police wasted no time as Khanganba again made a left wing run and executed a brilliant pass to Touthang. After collecting the ball again, he shot home a goal for the 2-0 victory today.

READ MORE - 2-0 victory for Manipur Police

Bengal cautious vs Manipur

Calcutta:PC Lalawmpuiya and Gauranga Biswas will start upfront when Bengal take on Manipur in the group A quarter final league match at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai on Thursday.

Having managed only a point against Tamil Nadu, coach Raghu Nandy has decided on a couple of changes for Thursday’s line-up.

While goalkeeper Subhasish Roy Chowdhury will make way for Abhra Mondal, medio Subho Kumar is almost certain to sit out against an in-form Manipur side.

“Tamil Nadu match is history. I know we played very bad football but thinking about it will hardly help us tomorrow. We were on the verge of losing but came back and managed to save the match,” Nandy said after Wednesday’s practice session.

The 29 times champions Bengal came back one goal down to draw 1-1 against the hosts in their opening group A quarter final league match of the ongoing national football for the Santosh Trophy.

“I have chalked out few changes in the playing XI for tomorrow’s match and hope that will earn us a good result,” an optimistic Nandy added.

Hailing Manipur as an well-organised side, Nandy opined that his boys need to be cautious. “Manipur are a very well organised team. They are fast and compact. We need to be careful and play according to the situation,” the coach stated.

READ MORE - Bengal cautious vs Manipur

Santosh Trophy: Manipur upself holder Punjab in league QF

Chennai : Defending champions Punjab were upset by Manipur 1-2 in their quarter-final Group A league opener of the 63rd National Football championship for the Santosh Trophy at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, here on Tuesday.

Punjab took the lead in the 27th minute when an unmarked Balwant Singh headed in a Boy Singh cross from the left.

But former champions Manipur equalised within two minutes when a free-kick from M Raju was deflected into his own goal by Sarabjit Singh.

The goal seemed to dampen Punjab's spirits who were playing their first match in the tournament. In contrast, Manipur grew from strength to strength and after the change of ends applied more pressure on the Punjab defence.

They were rewarded in the 48th minute when Subhas Singh found the net from close range.

Reisangmi Vashum left Anwar Ali and Ravinder Singh chasing shadows and took a shot towards goal. Karanjit Singh blocked the effort partially but Subhas was close at hand to knock in the rebound.

Manipur, who have played three matches in the qualifying stage of the tournament, looked in better shape and controlled proceedings much better than their opponents.

With West Bengal and Tamil Nadu also in their group, Punjab have a difficult task of progressing from the quarter-final stage.

However, Punjab coach Jagbir Singh was not unduly worried with the defeat since they had also lost their first match in last year's tournament before going on to lift the title.

"We had started off in a similar fashion, losing our first match against Services last year. We are not worried much and we have two more matches to go in the league. Our boys played well in their first match today despite the hot and humid conditions and we should be able to make amends in our coming matches," said Jagbir.

READ MORE - Santosh Trophy: Manipur upself holder Punjab in league QF

Manipur win QF opener

Chennai, June 3 : Manipur came back from 1-0 down to defeat reigning Santosh Trophy champions Punjab 2-1 in Group A match of the quarterfinal league round of the competition on Tuesday.

There was a fierce start to the match as both sides pressed on the attacking button.

But it was Manipur who appeared to have the cutting edge as Khanthang Paite tested the Punjab goalkeeper in the sixth minute but his shot went just past the frame of the Punjab goal.

Four minutes later Subhash Singh came close for Manipur but was flagged offside.

Manipur continued to press themselves upon Punjab as Joychandra Singh's shot from just outside the Punjab six-yard box went over the crossbar.

That was in the 14th minute.

Two minutes later, though, Balwant Singh came close to gifting Punjab a shock lead when he took a shot but it was off target.

The Manipuris weren't quietened down by Punjab at all by that and Subhash Singh again went close when he took a lovely left-footed shot from outside the Punjab penalty area from the left side but it went just wide off the near post.

This chance for Manipur came in the 23rd minute.

Two minutes later Subhash had another chance, this time with his head, but his header went way over the crossbar.

But it was Punjab who took the lead much against the run of play when Balwant Singh headed home from a long ball from the midfield.

The Manipur defenders thought that Singh was in an offside position and so didn't chase him but replays showed that the assistant referee was right not to have raised the offside flag.

But Manipur were not to buckle down by going 1-0 down.

Paite had a chance from a free-kick as he curled the ball with his left foot but Punjab goalkeeper Karanjit Singh was up to the mark and fisted the ball over his crossbar for a corner.

Two minutes later on the half-hour mark Manipur restored parity.

The Manipuris took a corner which was apparently cleared away from danger by the Punjab defenders only for the ball to fall at the feet of Raju way outside the Punjab penalty area.

Raju took a long range attempt which was deflected into his own net by Sarbjit Singh.

It became 1-1 at that point.

Manipur appeared to be the better of the two sides for the rest of the first half and went ahead three minutes into the restart.

Paite ran with the ball from the midfield and took a left footed shot from outside the Punjab penalty area which custodian Karanjit Singh couldn't hold onto and Subhash Singh slotted the ball home from close range to give Manipur a 2-1 lead.

The next few minutes saw both sides go for the kill but neither managed to open their opponent's defence.

Punjab defender Rakesh Masih came close in the 55th minute but his shot went way over the Manipur crossbar.

The match then slightly dipped in momentum with Manipur playing more passing football and retaining possession.

They could have increased their advantage in the 69th minute when Joychandra Singh crossed in the ball from the left to an unmarked Reisangmi Vashum inside the Punjab penalty area.

But Vashum failed to keep his shot on target.

Both Punjab and Manipur had their chances after that and either side could have scored.

Manipur looked the more technical side and played some lovely one touch football and should have scored at least once from the number of chances they created.

But Manipur held on for a deserved 2-1 victory that takes them one step towards the semi-finals.

Later, rusty Bengal were lucky to escape with a 1-1 draw against 10-man Tamil Nadu in the other Group A quarter-final league match.

Twenty-nine times champions Bengal needed a goal deep into stoppage time to grab a point after PC Riju gave the hosts the lead in the 40th minute.

Bengal goalkeeper Subhasish Roy Chowdhury bungled while collecting a long throw-in from Pradeep Kumar and Riju, who was near at hand, put the ball into the net.

Bengal equalised in the third minute of second-half added on time.

Tamil Nadu goalkeeper Satish Kumar deflected Habibur Rehman Mondal's volley from a Snehasish Chakraborty's corner on to the path of PC Lalwmpuiya, who headed it home to earn Bengal a point.

READ MORE - Manipur win QF opener

Maharashtra, Manipur, Goa, hosts TN enter quarter final

Chennai, Jun 3 : The Pre-Quarterfinal knockout Round of the 63rd Santosh Trophy gave no surprise as hosts Tamil Nadu, Goa, Maharashtra and Manipur sealed their place in QuarterFinal League.

In a keenly contested battle of the pre quarter final match 3 between Railways and Manipur of the 63rd National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy, played at Thiruvallore on Sunday, Manipur played an attacking game right from the start and went on to win the match 4-1 to enter into the quarter final round.

The victors never allowed their opponents to take a control of the game and drew the first blood in the 19th minute as Subhash Singh was left unmarked in the left flank and his powerful shot left Railway custodian Ehtesham Ahmed diving in vain.

As the match progressed Manipur started having better bail control and kept on attacking at the rival den.

In the 40th minute Riesangi Vashum was in action as thebal rebounded off Railways custodian Ehtesham as he tried to save a shot from Subhash Singh.

Vashum utilised the situation well and tapped it in to give his team a 2-0 lead.

With a 2-0 lead as the match entered into the lemon break, Manipur could sniff the victory.

And as expected in the 79th minute they extended the lead as Vashum headed the ball in to give his a team a 3-0 lead.

Railways bounced back immediately as in the 80th minute they were awarded a penalty and Nalanda Chakravarthy utilized the opportunity to reduce the lead to 3-1 but it was too late for them as Manipur won the match comfortably.

Goa scored a convincing 3-0 victory over Mizoram in their Pre quarter final match two at Tiruchirappalli, Chennai to enter into the quarterfinal round on Sunday.

Goa started the game on a positive note and played an aggressive game.

The victors could have taken the lead in the 15th minute but Fredy Mascarenhas missed the penalty.

As a result of the missed penalty Fredy was replaced by Jaquim Abranches and the substitution worked well for the Goan outfit.

In the 43rd minute Abranches displayed some superb football skills as he got the ball past Mizoram custodian to give his team a 1-0 lead with match entering into the lemon break.

Goa completely dominated the match and never allowed Mizoram to have a shot at their goal.

Though Mizoram got couple of chances early on but their strikers failed to convert them.

The start of the second half was no different as Goa extended the lead in the 58th minute through Marcus Mascarenhas.

Marcus had a solo run and Mizoram defenders never posed a threat to his challenge as he got the ball past Mizoram custodian to make it 2-0 for Goa.

Five minutes later Marcus was back in action as he scored his brace for the evening to seal the fate of the game in his teams favour and help Goa enter into quarter finals.

Goa will now play Karnataka in the quarter final match on 3rd June at Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.

Kerala's run in the in the Championship came to an end on Sunday as they lost to a solitary goal to Maharashtra in their Pre quarter final match 1 at Coimbatore.

Maharashtra with this victory has now advanced to the quarter final stages.

The lone goal of the match was scored in the 83rd minute by Sampath Kumar Kuttimani.

Both the teams played a defensive game in the first half and the game was played mainly in the mid field area and as a result there were hardly any shots taken at the goal.

Both the custodian had hardly any work to do under the bar and were having an off day till the 83rd minute before Maharashtra took lead and sealed the fate of the game in his teams favour.

With first half ending without a goal being scored the start of the second half was no different and both the teams had equal possession and domination of the game.

Maharashtra like their previous encounter slowly pulled up their socks just after an hour mark and started attacking at the Kerala goal.

In the 83rd minute Kuttimani got the only chance of the match which he capitalized well to give his team a 1-0 lead.

The Kerala defenders were involved in a confusion and utilizing the opportunity well was Kuttimani who headed the ball in after he received a cross from inside the box to dash the hopes of Kerala outfit to make it to the quarter finals.

Kulothungan scored the opening goal as Muthu and Riju scored a brace each as Tamil Nadu defeated Haryana 5-0 in their Pre quarter final match four at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai to enter into the quarterfinal round on Sunday.

Tamil Nadu carried on their attacking style of game as Kulothungan was left unmarked inside the box and his shot found back of the net to give his team a 1-0 lead in the 18th minute.

With a 1-0 lead there was no looking back for the hosts as they kept on attacking at the opponents den.

Just before the lemon break Muthu showed his skills as he dribbled past two defenders to get the ball past Haryana custodian to give his team 2-0 lead.

With a 2-0 lead in the first half the script in the second half was no different as Haryana failed to get their acts together.

They never had any control of the game as Tamil Nadu dominated the second half as well.

With three minutes into the second half Rjiu added his name to the scoring sheet to extend the lead to 3-0.As the match progressed Haryana tried hard but their strikers failed to convert the chances that came their way.

In the 78th minute Muthu scored his second goal of the evening and three minutes later Riju scored his brace to take the lead to 5-0 to help Tamil Nadu win the match comfortably 5-0 and enter into the quarter finals.

Quarter Final League Round
Group A: Punjab ,West Bengal , Manipur (Winner PQF 3), Tamil Nadu (Winner PQF 4)
Group B: Services ,Karnataka , Maharashtra (Winner PQF 1), Goa (Winner PQF 2)
Quarter Final League Round :Venue :Chennai (JN Stadium)
02.06.09 � Punjab Vs Manipur - Group A
02.06.09 � West Bengal Vs Tamil Nadu - Group A
03.06.09 � Services Vs Maharashtra - Group B
03.06.09 � Karnataka Vs Goa - Group B
04.06.09 � Manipur Vs West Bengal- Group A
04.06.09 � Tamil Nadu Vs Punjab - Group A
05.06.09 � Maharashtra Vs Karnataka - Group B
05.06.09 � Goa Vs Services- Group B
06.06.09 � Manipur Vs Tamil Nadu - Group A
06.06.09 � Punjab Vs West Bengal- Group A
07.06.09 � Maharashtra Vs Goa - Group B
07.06.09 � Karnataka Vs Services- Group B
The winners and runners up team from both groups will qualify for the semi finals.

READ MORE - Maharashtra, Manipur, Goa, hosts TN enter quarter final

Goa, Manipur storm into quarter-finals

CHENNAI: Hosts Tamil Nadu, former champions Goa and Manipur booked quarter-final berths with easy wins while Maharashtra barely made the grade in the 63rd National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy on Sunday.

Tamil Nadu rode on the goals scored by Muthu, Riju and Kulothungan to thump Haryana 5-0 here. Meanwhile, in another pre-quarterfinal match at Tiruchirapally, Goa blanked Mizoram 3-0, courtesy Joaquim Abranches (44th) and Marcus Mascarenhas (58th and 63rd) fine display on the field.

As if the pitch side temperature that hit an all time high was not enough, Mizoram appeared to test Goa’s resolve with a series of tackles. It took referee Santosh Kumar (Kerala) nine bookings - six to Mizoram - to restore some sort of order. After the initial hustle-bustle, where everyone seemed to kick anyone, Goa eventually settled down and won a spot kick after Reuben Zosangpuia was caught handling Marcus’ header in the 13th minute.

At Thiruvallore, former champions Manipur beat Railways 3-1, while Maharashtra edged past Kerala by a solitary goal in a close contest in Coimbatore. For Manipur, Reisangi Vashum (40th, 79th) and Subhash Singh (19th) scored while Nalanda Chakraborty reduced the margin in the 80th minute. On the other hand, Maharashtra depended on Kuttimani Sampathkumar’s quick reflexes to score in the 83rd minute.

Tamil Nadu, Goa, Manipur and Maharashtra now join four directly seeded sides - last edition winners Punjab, runners-up Services and two semi-finalists Karnataka and West Bengal - in the last eight league round which begins on Tuesday.

Punjab, West Bengal, Manipur and Tamil Nadu make up the Group A while Services, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa form the Group B. In the quarter-final league matches starting on Tuesday, Manipur takes on Punjab while hosts Tamil Nadu plays West Bengal in their first quarter-final league matches. Next day, Services will lock horns with Maharashtra while Karnataka will meet Goa.

READ MORE - Goa, Manipur storm into quarter-finals

Manipur cruise in Santosh trophy

Chennai, May 30 : Manipur defeated Sikkim in Cluster VI at Thiruvallore to book their place in the pre-quarterfinals of the Santosh Trophy.

Manipur went ahead as early as the 14th minute when Khantang Paite was fouled inside the Sikkim penalty area.

Paite pulled himself up and scored from the resulting penalty.

Manipur increased the lead four minutes before half-time when Subhash Singh scored.

The former champions did not allow Sikkim to make much inroads in the second half and duly won the match 2-0 .

Maharashtra also went through to the last 18 stage after defeating Meghalaya 3-0 in a Cluster II match at Coimbatore.

Maharashtra were the better of the two sides in the match but couldn't score in the first 45 minutes.

They did score eventually four minutes after the hour-mark when Paresh Shivalkar scored.

Three minutes later Maharashtra doubled their lead when Sampat Kumar Kuttymani hit the Meghalaya net.

The 3-0 scoreline was complete two minutes later when Kuttymani scored his brace.

Goa trounced Orissa 4-0 in a Cluster IV clash to book their place in the pre-quarterfinals of the 63rd National Football Championship.

Goa took the lead through Marcus Mascarenhas and stretched their lead in the 33rd minute when Beevan D'Mello scored.

It became 3-0 to Goa a minute before the half-time whistle was blown when Dempo star Climax Lawrence scored.

Goa continued to dominate the match in the second half too and made it 4-0 in the 70th minute when Riston Rodriguez scored.

In another match of the day, Haryana defeated Bihar 3-0 in Cluster VII at Chennai to book their place in the pre-quarterfinals of the Santosh Trophy.

They scored eight minutes into the match through Surender Kumar.

It became 2-0 to Bihar in the 42nd minute when Pradeep Kumar scored and the 3-0 scoreline was accomplished in the dying minutes of the game when Kumar scored his brace.

READ MORE - Manipur cruise in Santosh trophy

Manipur beats Sikkim, enters pre-quarterfinals

Karthik Krishnaswamy
— Photo: K. Pichumani

FAST GAME: Subash Singh of Manipur (centre) tries to dribble past the Sikkim players in the Santosh Trophy on Friday. Tiruvallur: Manipur entered the pre-quarterfinals of the Santosh Trophy here on Friday with a 2-0 win in its final Cluster VI match against Sikkim. Manipur will face Railways, winner of Cluster V, in the pre-quarterfinals on Sunday.
In its first game, Manipur had thrashed Uttarakhand 9-0, with its front four enjoying vast amounts of space and time on the ball.
Here, Sikkim’s midfield, instead of sitting deep like Uttarakhand’s, closed down these spaces with industry. Manipur as a result took a while to find any measure of fluency.
Regardless, Manipur took the lead in the 14th minute, through a penalty slotted home by left winger Khanthang Paiti.
Reisangmi Vasum, hat-trick hero against Uttarakhand, won it on the right edge of the box, brought down from behind — needlessly, for he had his back to goal — by Sikkim left winger Bikash Jairu.
Manipur made it 2-0 in the 41st minute through the cruellest of sucker punches. Goalkeeper Lokeshwar Singh, picking up the ball after he had nearly spilled a Jairu free kick into goal, launched it long beyond the Sikkim defence. Timing his run just right, striker Subash Singh reached it an instant before Sikkim keeper Karma Lepcha and poked home adroitly.
The Nirmal impact Sikkim emerged from the break with a re-jigged line-up, with skipper Nirmal Chhetri moved from centre back to centre forward, in an attempt to bomb the Manipur defence with long balls.
The East Bengal defender made an immediate impact, winning headers at will, knocking the ball on for runners from either side.
Twice in a minute, he had efforts denied – a header blocked by centre back Syed Fareed and a low shot saved by Basant Singh, who had replaced a rattled-looking Lokeshwar in goal.
A goal might just have thrown Manipur into disarray, but Sikkim didn’t quite manage to find that incisive final ball or cleanly struck shot.
The result: Manipur 2 (Khanthang Paiti 14’; Subash Singh 41’) bt Sikkim 0.

READ MORE - Manipur beats Sikkim, enters pre-quarterfinals

63rd National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy

Manipur crush Uttarakhand in first match

Imphal, May 26: Manipur took over the mantle of largest victors from Tamil Nadu as they hammered Uttarakhand by nine goals in their opening match of the 63rd Santosh Trophy 2009 .

Elsewhere, Haryana put six past Gujarat at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Chennai to start their campaign on a winning note.

Maharashtra also bagged three points as they beat Uttar Pradesh by three goals while Goa managed to edge past Jharkhand by a solitary goal from Freddy Mascarenhas.

The great run of north-eastern states in this edition of the Santosh Trophy continued with Manipur the latest team to join the party.

Uttarakhand had to bear the brunt of a severe Manipuri assault as they conceded nine goals without reply in their first match of the Santosh Trophy.

Manipur opened the scoring through Bisheshwor Singh in the 33rd minute and then grabbed two more just before half time thanks to Mutum Bijen Singh and Reisangmei Vashum.

They continued the assault in the second half and increased the lead further through Singam Subash Singh in the 59th minute.

Four minutes later, Reisangmei Vashum turned up with his second of the match and Bisheshwor Singh followed suit in the 73rd minute.

Singam Subash Singh became the third player to score a brace in the 77th minute till Reisangmei Vashum went one step further to complete his hat-trick in the 89th minute.

Sporting Clube de Goa's Thoudam Joychandra Singh rubbed salt into Uttarakhand wounds by adding a ninth goal in injury time to round off a fantastic match for the Manipur team.

They seemed to be in control throughout the match and this massive victory is a giant leap towards progression in the tournament, more so because Cluster VI has only three teams, the other being Sikkim who start their campaign against Uttarakhand on May 27 .

Day 2 results at a glance:
Cluster II (Nehru Stadium, Coimbatore)
Maharashtra 3-0 Uttar Pradesh
Cluster IV (St.

Joseph's College Ground, Tiruchirappalli)
Goa 1-0 Jharkhand
Cluster VII (Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, Chennai)
Haryana 6-0 Gujarat.

READ MORE - 63rd National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy

Big wins for Manipur, Haryana in Santosh Trophy

Former champions Goa edged out Jharkhand 1-0 at Tiruchirappalli while Maharashtra began their campaign with a 3-0 win over Uttar Pradesh in Coimbatore in the Santosh Trophy group league qualifiers on Monday.
In other matches, Haryana trounced Gujarat 6-0 while former champions Manipur had little difficulty in disposing off Uttarakhand 9-0.

For Manipur, Reisangmi Vasum scored a hattrick (43rd, 63rd and 89th) while Bisheshwar Singh (33rd and 73rd) and Subash Singh (59th and 77th) added a brace each with Bijen Singh (44th) and Joychandra Singh (92nd) netting one apiece.

Jaswant Singh Parmar (52nd and 54th) scored twice for Haryana who romped home over Gujarat with a goal each from Vikram Saini (16th), Sunil Kumar Sharma (56th), Vivek Singh Karia (68th) and Pawan Kumar (70th).

Goals from Anas Edathodika (31st), Alex Ambrose (55th) and Zahid Ansari helped Maharashtra thump Uttar Pradesh.

READ MORE - Big wins for Manipur, Haryana in Santosh Trophy

Three teams promoted to MSL

IMPHAL: Three have been promoted to the Manipur State League for the2009-10 season.

Manipur Brothers Sporting Union, Wahengbam Leikai and Anouba Imagi Mangal have performed well enough in the district leagues to gain promotion to the main state league, which is part of the AFC Vision India Project Manipur programme.

It will be the fourth edition of the league in a state that boasts football as its number one sport.

Manipur is one of four Vision India projects along with Delhi, Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Football-strong states Goa and West Bengal are also set to join.

READ MORE - Three teams promoted to MSL

Manipur’s reign continues

FOOTBALL / It is the State’s 12th title on the trot
— Photo: C. Venkatachalapathy

UNCHALLENGED: Manipur eased past West Bengal to retain the senior National women’s football title at Neyveli on Sunday. NEYVELI: Manipur eased past West Bengal 2-0 to retain the title in the 17th senior National women’s football championship at the Bharathi Stadium here on Sunday. It is the 15th National title for Manipur, the last 12 of them coming on the trot.
Bengal held the upper hand in the initial part of the encounter. The first 15 minutes of play saw Bengal’s Aduri Khatun’s free-kick sailing over the post and Shilpi Deb missing a couple of easy chances.
Manipur midfielders took a bit of time to settle down, but once they got into the act, things changed dramatically.
Momentum shift Bengal custodian Ranjta Khan misjudged a lobbed free-kick from Y. Kamala Devi, which sailed past her into the goal.
That effort led to a momentum shift and Manipur forwards started penetrating the rival defence more often. O. Bembem Devi almost increased the lead in the dying minutes of the first half, but her strike hit the post. After the break, Manipur women were at their brilliant best and hardly gave Bengal any chance to make a comeback. Apart from feeding the forwards with some precise passes, Manipur midfielders also blocked the opponent’s moves effectively. Bala Devi and Tababi Devi caused plenty of problems to the Bengal defenders. Both of them came agonisingly close to scoring on more than a few occasions. Any chance of Bengal getting back into the game was nipped when Tababi Devi netted in the 62nd minute.
The result: Final: Manipur 2 (Y. Kamala Devi, Tababi Devi) bt West Bengal 0.

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Manipur starts favourite

NEYVELI: Manipur, 14-time champion and unbeaten so far in the 17th edition of the senior National women’s football championship will start as favourite against West Bengal in the final here on Sunday.
However, the Bengal coach Ranjana Chatterjee says that her team will give its best in the summit clash. “It is going to be tough, no doubt. But the girls have played well in the tournament, especially during pressure situations. We hope for the best,” she said.
Bengal is the only other State apart from Manipur to have won the National title. It did so in 1992 and 1997. On both the occasions, it defeated Manipur in the final.
Manipur had beaten Bengal in the quarterfinal league of the ongoing championship. But still, Manipur coach Premkanta Singh felt that final was a different ball game. “Having beaten Bengal earlier in the tournament is a psychological advantage. But we never take things for granted,” he said.

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West Bengal, Manipur in final

NEYVELI: Holder Manipur and West Bengal entered the final with contrasting wins in the 17th senior National women’s football championship at the Bharathi Stadium here on Friday.

Manipur scripted a comfortable 2-0 win over last year’s runner-up Orissa, while West Bengal won a penalty shootout 3-2 against Tamil Nadu, after the teams were locked 1-1 at the end of regulation and extra time.
It was a heart breaking loss for Tamil Nadu, which led for most part of the encounter. Vidyavathi’s spectacular 20-yard free kick put the host ahead in the 22nd minute.

Tamil Nadu could have increased the lead had its strikers capitalised on some of the good moves initiated by the midfielders. West Bengal players made attempts to equalise late in the first half, but Tamil Nadu defenders warded off the challenges with aplomb.

There was not much of an action in the early part of the second session, but the latter part certainly belonged to the West Bengal players, who repeatedly raided the rival defence.

Their persistence was finally rewarded when Shilpi Deb headed in the equaliser in the 69th minute and forced the match into extra time.

After a fruitless 20 minutes of extra time, the match was decided on shoot out.

In the other semifinal, K. Rebika Devi gave Manipur a 1-0 advantage in the 67th minute after a goalless first half. From then on, Manipur forwards grew in confidence and kept the rival defenders busy. Tababi Devis goal in the 74th minute settled the issue beyond doubt. The final will be played on Sunday.

READ MORE - West Bengal, Manipur in final