By TwoCircles.net Staff Correspondent,
Mangalore: The Kerala zone team emerged champions in the ‘SIO Reformation Cup 2010’ defeating West Bengal in the final held on Sunday in Mangalore. The thrilling match gave victory for Kerala in the sudden-death round, after both teams were locked 4-4 in the penalty shootout.
The match retained its excitement till the last moment with the aggressiveness put forward by both teams, though no goal was scored in either half. The match then moved on to the inevitable penalty shootout which decided its fate.
Besides the trophies for the winners and the runners-up, several individual prizes for outstanding performance were also awarded at the concluding ceremony. Muhammed, captain of the Kerala team who scored most number of goals, bagged the Player of the Tournament Award. Shakeel Ansari of West Bengal was presented with the Best goal Keeper Award. Afthab Alam of Bihar was announced the Emerging Player of the Tournament.
A Prabhakar Das, Director of the Netaji Yellappa Memorial Hospital, Thokkottu, was the chief guest at the valedictory function. He recalled that the Football Ground of the Nehru Maidan had produced a number of great footballers in the past several decades but the Maidan was now neglected by the administration. ‘Sports should not be for waste of time, but rather it should be for the creative utilization of time and space’, said KK Suhail, outgoing national president of the SIO. He added that the organisation was trying to create a new example by the football tournament.
DM Aslam (President of DK Football Association), Khasim (match referee), Atheequr Rahman (national convener of the tournament), Shoukath Ali (outgoing Karnataka SIO president), PM Salih (outgoing Kerala SIO president), Muhammed Bilal (national secretary of SIO), Ashfaq Shareef (Western Region president of SIO) and KM Ashraf (Mangalore unit president of the Jamat e Islami) were present at the venue among several other office-bearers of the SIO and the JIH.
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The five-day tournament began on Wednesday, December 22, at the District Football Ground adjacent to the Nehru Maidan in Mangalore.