Manipur beat Jharkhand 5-4 on penalties to win NSG U-14 Boys Football title

By Our Sports Reporter
IMPHAL, Nov 8 : Manipur defeated Jharkhand by 5-4 goals via penalty shoot out after a goalless draw during normal time of the final match at Main Stadium to win the title of the 65th National School Games U-14 Boys Football Tournament hosted by Directorate of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of Manipur under the supervision of School Games Federation of India.
Manipur and Jharkhand which posted dominating wins against their respective rivals in the semi-final matches staged in the morning lost their tempo in the final match and the score read 0-0 till the end of the normal time as the two teams were bereft of chances throughout.
Manipur however grabbed 5 goals in the penalty shoot out against Jharkhand's 4 to emerge the champions of the tournament which featured 32 teams from States and Schools across India. Manipur's Bijando, Annaroy, Sanjoy, Jameson and Olen were on target in this shoot-out while Vikash, Jitendra, Sunil and Sandeep scored for Jharkhand as Avinash Munda missed his chance to convert.
Earlier in the first semi-final, Manipur outlasted Uttar Pradesh 4-1 as N Nenaldo was seen continuing his exemplary performance by scoring twice (16', 30') including the opener while Jameson (36') and S Annaroy (48') also found their names on the scoresheet for their valuable one goal contributions. The consolation goal for Uttar Pradesh side was scored by Taushif in the 46th minute of the match.
Meanwhile, Jharkhand made it to the final by overwhelming West Bengal 5-0. Avinash Munda who missed was off target in the final match, was the highlight of this match as he hit a treble (25', 40', 56') after his team mate Deep Kumar had opened the team's account in the 13th minute. The other goal for Jharkhand was scored by Vikash Kachhap during the additional time of the first half (30+1').
In the match for third place, Uttar Pradesh rode on Farooq and Taushif to thrash West Bengal 8-0. Farooq hit the opener in the 11th minute of the match before adding three more goals in the 28th, 30th and the 42nd minutes while his team mate Taushif chipped in three goals (23rd, 38th and the 40th minutes) and Ramu scored a single in the 15th minute.