Nagpur: A solitary goal in the 25th minute by Bankok Nameirakpam of A.G. West Bengal, Kolkata helped to lift the Winners Trophy defeating the A.G. Punjab, Chandigarh by 1-0 in the IA & AD Inter Zonal Football tournament which concluded at Chhatrapati Shivaji Stadium, Police Ground, Nagpur conducted under the Convenership of Shri Dinesh Patil, IAAS, Accountant General (A&E) II Maharashtra, Nagpur.
In the first half, Bankok Nameirakpam of A.G. Kolkata, after getting a beautiful pass from Gopal Debnath, who placed the ball just to the right of diving goalkeeper from the left of “D” to score the first goal of the match, making it 1-0 in favour of A.G. Kolkata, in the 25th minute, which proved to be the winning goal of the final match. Half time score read 1-0 in favour of A.G. Kolkata.
In the Second half, A.G. Chandigarh, down a goal was on the offensive from the word go, but A.G. Kolkata managed to hold their lead till the final whistle. Manish Maithani, Rana Gharami, C.S.Sabeeth and Mohan Bagan side back L. Dhanchandra played well for A.G. Kolkata. Full time score read 1-0 in favour of A.G. Kolkata.
Abhinabo Bog of A.G. Kolkata was declared the Man of the Match for the finals while Goalkeeper, Manvir Singh of A.G. Chandigarh was declared the Man of the Tournament.
The referee for the match was Mushtaq Pasha, Assistant Referees were Mehfooz Akhtar & Nadeshwar Sahni while A.K. Patra was the fourth referee.
Later on, Prize Distribution Ceremony under the Chairmanship of Dinesh Patil, IAAS, Accounant General was held. The prizes were distributed at the hands of Banwarilal Purohit, former Member of Parliament and Managing Editor, the Hitavada who was the Chief Guest . In his address, he congratulated Dinesh Patil and his entire team for conducting such a big tournament effectively and successfully. He said football is a famous game played all over the world and only the brave hearts play in the play field. He congratulated the Kolkata team on their win and said that football is in their genes who has produced so many footballers for India. He added football is an only game in which all the 22 players have to concentrate every moment. Dinesh Patil, IAAS, Accounant General backed the Chief Guest for his words and reminded about the Nagpur team who played like tigers in the semi finals. Sheela Jog, IAAS, Accounant General (Audit), Nagpur and Jaydeep Shah, IAAS, Principal Director, Regional Training Institute, Nagpur were also present as Guest of honour. Sudhakarrao Deshmukh, MLA, Nagpur (West) also graced the final match and expressed his love towards football.
S.S. Kalpande, R.V.K. Sai Gandhi, Dr Vishal Chawre Dy Accountants General and large number of officers /staff members enjoyed the occasion. Dr Vishal Chawre, Dy Accountant General proposed vote of thanks.
Winners A.G. West Bengal, Kolkata Team: Bhargab Guhu Thakurata (Capt), Amit Kumar Nandi, Somnath Aich, Rana Gharami, Snehangshu Das, N. Mohanraj, Abhinabo Bog, Debayan Saha, Bankok Nameirakpam, Manish Maithani, Pradeep Mohanraj, C.S.Sabeeth, Arindom Bhatachrya, Souvik Bal, Bhola Das, Gopal Debnath, Anik Dey, Dhana Chandra Singh. Manger: Joy Dev Mondal, Coach: Dipankar Biswas.
