TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: St Clara High School, Assonora won the inter-school golden jubilee football tournament organized by Our Lady of Divar High School, at Maddant ground, Divar, recently.
In the finals, they defeated St Cruz High School, Santa Cruz 2 -0.
Both the teams played attacking soccer right from the word go. St Cruz could have opened the account in the very fifth minute of play but their forward missed the sitter.
With the early threat, St. Clara upped their tempo and took the lead in the eight minute through the efforts of Nehal Shinde.
Changing over, St Cruz battled tirelessly and had the better ball possession but failed to break down an organized St Clara defence.
With seven minutes left on the clock, St Clara made the issue safe when Nehal once again scored with a left footer to complete his brace.
Chief guest Clifford Chukwuma, head coach of Sesa Goa Football Academy and guest of honour Francisco Brut da Costa, National U-19 Football coach gave away the prizes. Moses Gonsalves, proprietor of Avlon Sports Wear, Ribandar was the special invitee.
The winners took home Rs 3,000 while the runners-up had to be content with Rs 2,000.
The following prizes were awarded: Best forward of the tournament – Diptesh Naik (St Clara HS), Best half — Roy Rodrigues (Bal Bharati Vidya Mandir, Ribandar), Best defender — Jonathan Rodrigues (St. Theresa’s HS, Candolim), Highest scorer — Nehal Shinde (St Clara’s HS), Best disciplined team — Sacred Heart of Jesus HS, Anjuna, Best goalkeeper — Raj Andrade (St Cruz HS, St Cruz), First scorer of the tournament — Johnty Correia (Our Lady of Divar HS), Youngest player of the tournament — Calvin Monteiro (Our Lady of Divar HS), Best goalkeeper of the finals — Sanil Bigde (St Clara’s HS), Last goal of the tournament — Nehal Shinde (St Clara’s HS).
The Police band kept the audience thrilled and lively throughout the finals.
Also present were Deputy Sarpanch of Goltim-Navelim VP Monica Aguiar, ex-sarpanch Manuel Azavedo, PTA Chairman Heddy Picardo, Treasurer Elvis Aguiar, India Under-14 Football Coach Mario Aguiar.
Earlier, Principal Fr. Anil Kumar welcomed the gathering. The tournament was co-ordinated by Ramdas Borkar, chairman of organising committee and Physical Education Director Pundalik Gurav.
Later, Headmaster John S.M. Fernandes proposed the vote of thanks.
Socorro Fernandes and Indrayani Patil compered. In all, eight top schools from Goa participated.
