Team Herald
PANJIM: Goa’s most prestigious and historic football tournament’s Bandodkar Gold Trophy was unveiled at Mahalasa Hall, 3rd floor, Siddharth Bandodkar Bhavan, on Monday.
To celebrate the historic tournament’s final on Tuesday, at 5 p.m, the trophy will be escorted by armed guards accompanied by former winning captains with a motorcade led by the Harley Davidson’s HOG Goa, from the Panjim GFA office to the Duler Stadium, Mapusa.
Well known anchor, actor and singer Vandana Vadehra will also perform at the final.
Present at the press briefing were former winning teams’ captains of the earlier editions of the tournament like Brahmanand Sankhwalkar, Arjuna Awardee, Panvel Sporting Club in the year 1974; Oscar Rebello, Salgaocar Sporting Club in the year 1981 and Savio Medeira, Salgaocar Sporting Club in the year 1992.
GFA President Elvis Gomes said, “I am happy that the GFA has revived the glory of the Bandodkar Gold Trophy. With the final being held on Tuesday, the last few days have seen exciting matches being played. The intention was to see the Bandodkar Gold Trophy being revived, that was the objective and we have achieved it.”
“On Tuesday, is also the inaugural of the floodlights at the Duler Stadium. We are delighted that this facility is being set up in North Goa. We will now be able to see a lot more matches being played at Duler in the evening under the floodlights.”
“I thank Sameer Kakodkar and the entire Bandodkar family, former football players Brahmanand, Oscar and Savio for being here today and Rahul for planning this excellent event,’’ he added.
“I thank GFA who has brought this dream alive after 22 years. The daughters of Dayanand Bandodkar, Goa’s first chief minister are thrilled that this tournament is being revived and wish the teams all the very best,” Sameer added.
The winning team will walk away with a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh and the runners-up will be awarded Rs 75 thousand.
The tournament had six teams from Goa participating, Salgaocar FC, Sporting Clube de Goa, Dempo SC, Churchill Brothers SC, Goa Velha SC and Snows Football Academy. There was also participation from two top football academies from Pune, DSK Shivajians and Pune FC.
In an effort to keep the legacy and spirit of the traditional tournament alive, Goa Football Association had stepped in to organize the tournament ably supported by the illustrious Bandodkar family.
