Team Herald
PANJIM: The 1st BRICS U-17 football tournament played amongst the five nations — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. in Goa from October 5 to 15 was a huge success as Brazil won the championship defeating South Africa in the final.
The opening and closing ceremony of the tournament were held in the presence of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Sports Minister Ramesh Tawadkar, Rajiv Yadav and other senior political leaders and dignitaries.
The colourful extravaganza was led by a parade of contingents representing the participating nations, followed by an enthralling display of diverse culture of Goa in the form of dancers of different parts of the State.
BRICS football tournament indicated a spirit of togetherness amongst the participating countries. The whole tournament was completely entertaining with power house performance by all the players. The tournament witnessed two matches every alternate day altogether and in total comprised of 12 matches.
The tag line “India For Football” as coined by the Union Sports Minister and the theme song ‘Five Nations One Goal’ has become the talk of the town.
The closing ceremony was held in a grand style with the Indian Army band, featuring a wide variety of instruments, conducted a symphonic rendition of the Indian National Anthem.
