KALIMPONG SCHOOL SHINES IN SOCCER TOURNEY - St. Augustine nets trophy

VIVEK CHHETRI, TT, 02 Jul 2019, Darjeeling: St. Augustine's School from Kalimpong was crowned Bengal and Northeast champion in the ICSE under-17 football tournament on Monday.

The hill school will represent the region at the national-level tournament of the Council of Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE), which is scheduled to be held at Dumdum, Calcutta, from July 24.

"Our team beat St. Carlite School from South Dinajpur 4-0 in the finals that was played at St Mary's High School ground at Ranaghat (Nadia)," said Yuvraj Rocky Chhetri, the team in-charge of SAS.

A total of 16 teams from Bengal and north-eastern states were selected for this regional round, which was held over three days starting from Saturday. "Today our boys had to play the finals at noon under scorching heat and we are proud that despite being unfamiliar to such conditions, the boys performed brilliantly," said Prabhu Pradhan, teacher, SAS.

The tournament is of much importance as the CISCE will build their own team, based on the performance at the nationals, to represent the council at the National School Games. The games are organised by the School Games Federation of India (SGFI), which works under the Union ministry of youth affairs and sports. The SGFI had allowed the ICSE board to participate in the games from last year. The SAS had represented Bengal and north eastern states school last year, too.

In fact, present SAS U- 17 football team captain, Khanswrang Brahma, had been selected for the ICSE board team last year. "I was the only player from this region in the ICSE team, which mostly had players from Kerala. The school games were held in Jammu last year," said Brahma, who hails from Kokhrajhar in Assam.

Apart from Brahma, Prajwal Chhetri from SAS's under -19 team had also been selected to represent the board, said school teacher Pradhan.

During this edition of the tournament, Brahma was adjudged man-of-the-tournament. "I did learn a lot by last year's national experience," said Brahma.