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Deepankar Sharda
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, January 22
Aided by a strong presence of Chandigarh Academy players, the city boys finished on top in the football tournament organised by the School Games Federation of India at Pune, today.
This is for the first time in nearly last five years that Chandiagrh has clinched the title in the SGFI football tournament.
Out of the 16-member Chandiagrh contingent, 12 were from Chandigarh Football Academy.
The city boys defeated a strong Mizoram side 2-0, while they blanked Nagaland 4-0 in the league stage of the championship.
The side then defeated Madhya Pradesh 2-0 to book a place in the semifinals.
Chandiagrh humbled Punjab 2-0 to set up the title clash with Jharkhand and won the final 2-0 to lift the trophy.
“Our defenders played well and did not concede a single goal in the championship. Our pool was the toughest among all, but the perfect combination among the playing-eleven helped us to move ahead with ease. We had a little trouble in semifinals, but again our defenders played well and supported the strikers. Overall it's an important win as the boys have brought back the title after a gap of almost five years,” said coach Gurpreet Bedi.
Bedi also trashed the claims of disharmony in the CFA.
“These all are rumours. Our boys played well in the Administrator's Cup and lost a tough final. In Pune, they played well to beat teams like Mizoram and Punjab. So there is no question of any trouble in CFA. We will soon have a new batch to add to our strength ahead of the state and junior national championships,” he said.
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