Shillong, Jul 27: Meghalaya Chalang were pipped in a penalty shootout that decided the men’s final of the 2nd Indian Blind Football Premier League in Ahmedabad yesterday.
Meghalaya Chalang went down to Glorious Gujarat 1-0 in the tiebreaker after regulation time finished 1-1, the Meghalaya Blind Football Association informed last night.
The Indian Blind Football Premier League was held at the Keep Rising Sports Arena in Ahmedabad from 23rd to 26th July. The Gujarat city also hosted the inaugural edition last year, which was won by a team that comprised mainly Meghalaya players. The league, for men and women, was organised by the Indian Blind Football Federation.
Five teams were entered based on the performance of the state teams at previous national and zonal tournaments.
The teams were structured by selecting the best players from the region into five distinct regional teams. Besides Meghalaya Chalang and Glorious Gujarat the others were TN Bison Tamil Nadu, Dangerous Delhi and Sixth Sense of Bengal.
In each team, not more than three international players could be inducted but Meghalaya Chalang was made up of all North East players – eight (including goalkeeper and goal guide) from Meghalaya and one from Arunachal Pradesh.
In the round robin stage Meghalaya Chalang secured first position, with Glorious Gujarat second, which put them both into the final.
Here, after normal time finished 1-1, a tiebreaker was applied and Gujarat won by a narrow margin.
Individual awards were also handed out at the prize distribution ceremony and three of these went to Meghalaya players – Klingson D Marak the Top Scorer award for his seven goals, Visiondo M Sangma for Best Goalkeeper and Johnborlang Pyngrope as Emerging Player of the Tournament.
Meghalaya Chalang also took part in the women’s category where they exited at the group stage.
In addition, Meghalaya’s own Sankidaroi Sajem was one of the match officials in the tournament.
Meghalaya Chalang men’s squad:
Klingson D Marak, Johnborlang Pyngrope, Jebilbang M Sangma, Boje Marbom, Crasen Ch Marak, Krinit R Marak, Prosanto D Marak (goal guide), Visiondo M Sangma (goalkeeper), Clebarth M Sangma (coach)
Meghalaya Chalang women’s squad:
Divya, Melthra Ch Momin, Guddhi Khaunt, Sapna, Kunjal, Asha, Binchi M Sangma (goal guide), Brejin Ch Marak (goalkeeper), Rani Hooda (coach)
(Photo contributed)
