Football championship: Showers play spoilsport on opening day

Tribune News Service

Jammu, December 11

Rain played spoilsport at the inaugural ceremony of the 63rd National School Games U-17 Boys’ Football Championship that began at the MA Stadium here today.

The opening ceremony was cut short due to heavy downpour and more than 500 players and officials comprising 34 teams, including Union Territories, were left disappointed.

Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh was the chief guest on the occasion while Minister of State for Youth Services and Sports Sunil Kumar Sharma was the guest of honour. The chief guest declared open the event.

A number of cultural items were not performed by the students due to continuous drizzling. There was no march past by the participating contingents and a number of matches that were scheduled at different venues were also not played.

The matches are being organised by the Department of Youth Services and Sports under the ages of the School Games Federation of India (SGFI) as a part of its annual calendar of activities. Matches are being played at five different venues. These included MA Stadium, University of Jammu, GGM Science College, Sainik School, Nagrota; and BSF Paloura ground.

Speaking on the occasion, Nirmal Singh lauded the performance of J&K players at the national/international level and hoped that the players of the state had no dearth of talent and would excel at higher levels.

In the matches played today, Odisha beat Gujarat 5-0 while Delhi drew with Uttarakhand, with both teams scoring one goal each. The five-day event will conclude on December 16.