Manipur club wins U-15 football tourney, to play in Malaysia

Duler: Manipur`s Birchandra Memorial Sporting Club (BMSC) got the better of Mumbai Football Club 5-4 via sudden death to emerge champions of the 8th Nike`s under-15 Manchester United Premier Cup (MUPC) football tournament in Mapusa, here on Friday.

The domestic leg of the tournament was organised under the aegis of All India Football Federation and Goa Football Association. After BMSC and Mumbai FC were goalless in extra-time, tie-breaker was introduced which saw both teams locked in a 4-4 draw. In the sudden-death round, the Manipur club`s Roshan Singh converted his penalty kick into goal, but Mumbai FC`s Sushant Jadhav shot wide. BMSC will now represent India in the South-East Asia regional finals of the tournament in Malaysia next month. The winner in Malaysia will take part in the world finals to be held in London later this year. BMSC goalkeeper Romario Singh was declared best player of the tournament. The two teams reached the final of Indian leg of the tournament after going through various state and zone-level qualifiers and winning their semi-final matches yesterday. Football stars Baichung Bhutia and Sunil Chhetri were present at the function where the winners` and runners-up trophies were presented. MUPC is a global youth football tournament established in 1993 and is supported by world`s top sportswear company Nike. It started as a tournament for European countries, but was later extended to other continents and regions. PTI