Shillong, Sep 6: The maiden Laban SC Invitational Futsal Tournament, which began on 1st September, has seen some superb displays of fast, high-quality footwork between the 40 teams across the main competition and the veterans’ division, with the finals slated for Saturday.
In the Group A semifinals of the main competition OM Roy School Mawlai defeated Raid Laban School by the rather comfortable margin of 13-7, while it was a much closer contest between St Anthony’s College and Shillong College, with full time ending all square at 5-5. Penalties were thus required and Shillong College came through 2-1 to win.
In Group B, St Anthony’s HSS defeated Jaiaw Laitdom 7-2, while Lawsohtun got the better of Three Pines by the exact same margin. The top team from each group will then play against each other in the final on Saturday.
The tournament is being held at the club’s indoor stadium and is being organised in collaboration with the Meghalaya Futsal Association and Touchline Northeast. Thirty-two teams entered the competition with 12 members per team in 30-minute matches.
Invited teams were divided between four ‘pots’ – Pot A comprising professional clubs, Pot B community clubs, Pot C colleges and Pot D schools.
Meanwhile, in the veterans’ division, which was contested by eight teams at the start, Gladiators and a team representing the Meghalaya Swimming Association (MSA) will face each other in the final.
In today’s semis, Gladiators came from a goal down to beat Meghalaya Police 9-5. After that, MSA eclipsed Friends United 7-3. The second match could have seen a much closer scoreline but for the efforts of Banrap Sumer, MSA’s goalkeeper, who saved plenty of shots from Friends United.
(Photo contributed by Laban SC. Meghalaya Swimming Association are in yellow, Friends United in green)
