IAF lift Chaturbhuj soccer trophy

Patna, December 11, 2008
The 18th All-India Chaturbhuj Ram memorial soccer tournament witnessed a spate of tiebreakers to decide the outcome of the matches. The final too met the same fate. This time the lucky team was Indian Air Force, Delhi who beat Sikh Regimental Centre, Jallandhar 4-2 via tiebreaker to win the coveted trophy at Khudiram Bose Stadium in Muzaffarpur on Thursday.

The tiebreaker rule came into force after the ding-dong 90-minute and extra-time battle between Delhi and Jallandhar teams ended in a goalless draw. Indian Air Force goaltender MK Jina made two immaculate saves under the bar to steer his side to title win.

M Negi, Farhat, Stephen and Dhanesh hit the target for Indian Air Force while Jitendra Pal Singh and Ramesh Rai found the target for Sikh Regimental Centre. Majnider Singh and Gurudev Singh spoiled their shots powering it into the safe hands of MK Jina.

The match began with a brisk pace as Air Force men mounted pressure on rival citadel right from the word go. They got scoring chances in the 12th minute when striker Stephen shot wide from a close range inside the box. Later, in the 18th minute, winger M Negi too squandered a golden chance.

Sikh Regimental Centre men launched counter attacks midway through the first half of the play and got several corners but of no avail. Air Force defenders kept Army striker Maninder Singh well under check throughout the match. In the 33rd minute Maninder got a good aerial pass off Saroj Singh header but before Manindar could set himself for a strike, Air Force defender MC Peru cleared the ball.

The match saw its lemon break goalless. The second half too witnessed the game confining in the midfield as both the teams failed to create perfect opportunity for a goal.

At the end of the match, former treasurer of Bihar Volleyball Association Krishna Mohan Tiwari, who was the chief guest at the closing function, gave away the winners trophy to Air Force team while Muzaffarpur’s deputy mayor Md Nisaruddin presented the runners-up trophy to Jallandhar team.