78th NFC for Santosh Trophy Manipur outclass Sikkim 6-1 in opening match

AGARTALA, Nov 15
Manipur came good in the second half to outclass Sikkim 6-1 in their opening Group D match of the 78th National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy at Umakanta Mini Stadium.
Sikkim were able to hold the fort against the former champions till half time when the score was 1-1. But the floodgates opened in the second which saw Manipur winning by a comfortable margin.
Khullakpam Zahir Khan (2), Loyangamba Meitei Akoijam, Leimajam Sangkar Singh, Naoroibam Romen Singh and Lt Lowly scored for Manipur.
Rohit Chhetri was Sikkim’s lone marksman.
Manipur's next matches
Manipur vs Mizoram on November 17
Manipur vs Tripura on November 19
Hosts Tripura made a winning start in the other match with a 4-1 victory over Mizoram. The winners, who led 2-0 at the breather, found their goals through Zabet Darlong (2), Parvaj Bhuiya and Sukanta Jamatia. F Lallawmkima scored the only goal for Mizoram.
Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh: Former champions Karnataka had a rather easy time in their opening Group G match of the qualifying rounds in the 78th National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy at the RDT Stadium on Friday, November 15, 2024, when they defeated Andhra Pradesh 5-0.
The AIFF President, Shri Kalyan Chaubey, was the chief guest on the occasion.  
Karnataka took a firm grip over the match in the first half itself and pumped in three goals to make it a one-sided affair. With the hosts not being able to put up much resistance, the winners scored two more goals in the second session to complete the rout.
Abhishekh Shankar Powar led the Karnataka attacks with three goals. Rudra Ved and Ashwin Chakravarthy were the other scorers.
The day’s other match was also a big-scoring affair as Tamil Nadu demolished Andaman and Nicobar 7-0. Alexander Romario Jesuraj (2), Lijo K (2), Vikram Venkatachalam, Nandha Kumar Ananthraj and Avinash Bara (own goal) were the scorers.
Saturday, November 16, 2024 fixtures:
Group I (Jaipur): Maharashtra vs Rajasthan (9 am); Gujarat vs Dadra & Nagar Haveli & Daman & Diu (3 pm).
Group C (Kalyani): Uttar Pradesh vs Bihar (9 am); Jharkhand vs West Bengal (2 pm)
AIFF