Impressive Meghalaya lift U-17 Boys` Subroto Cup title

New Delhi: OM Roy Memorial, Shillong (Meghalaya) blanked Magurmari High School, Kokrajhar (Assam) 4-0 to lift the Under-17 Boys` title of the 54th Subroto Cup at the Ambedkar Stadium here on Sunday.

Mebanshan Suting (35th minute) scored for Meghalaya in the closing stages of the first half, while Nongrud Jefforson (46th min), Kynter Lenningston (61st min) and Kurbah Michaelson (69th min) found the net after the break. This is the second time after 1978 that a team from Meghalaya has won the U-17 Boys` title. They had lost in the final in 2011. Assam won in 1986 and 1992 and this was their fifth appearance in the final. The first half saw a battle of equals before Suting gave Meghalaya the lead a minute before the break with a fine effort from the top of the box, which found the top corner. The goal seemed to lift the spirits of the Meghalaya players and they dominated the second half. Nongrud doubled the lead with a nice diving header off a cross from the left a few minutes after the restart. Lenningston scored the third goal with a wonderful long range effort. An unmarked Michaelson drove the final nail in Assam`s coffin, scoring with a header after being fed by Nongrud Jefferson. "We did not play very well in the first half, but we managed to find our rhythm in the second half," Meghalaya striker Mebanshan Suting, who emerged as the second highest scorer with seven goals, said after the final. The champions, OM Roy Memorial, Meghalaya will take part in the Bayern Youth Cup, a tournament organised by Adidas in association with German club Bayern Munich, to be held in the capital by the end of this year. "It will be a great opportunity for these boys to play in the Youth Cup and the winners will play in the World Youth Cup in Germany," Tushar Goculdas, Brand Director of Adidas, said. Meanwhile, Yuwa, the girls` team from Jharkhand that finished third at the Geisteiz Cup in Spain recently, played an exhibition match against this years` Subroto Cup girls` champion Radha Madhav Sanskrit Vidhyala of Bisnupur (Manipur). The match ended in a goal-less draw. The Yuwa team was felicitated with Rs 1,00,000 and each of the girls were gifted an Adidas football kit. The organisers of the Subroto Cup also picked a group of talented young boys to form the `Subroto Boys` group. They will be given scholarship for education and football training. Awards (U-17 Boys): Best player: Mebanshan Suting (OM Roy High School, Shillong, Meghalaya) Best coach: Jeffrey Warlarpih (OM Roy High School, Shillong, Meghalaya) Best goalkeeper: Sten Banshanlanl (OM Roy High School, Shillong, Meghalaya) Most promising player: Jwngbla Brahma (Magurmari High School, Kokrajhar, Assam) Fairplay Award: GV Raja Sports School (Kerala) Awards (U-17 Girls): Best player: Sanju (Fountainhead School, Surat, Gujarat) Best coach: Fatima (Radha Madhav Sanskrit Vidyalaya, Nambol, Bishnupur, Manipur) Best goalkeeper: M Linthoingambi (Radha Madhav Sanskrit Vidyalaya, Nambol, Bishnupur, Manipur) Most promising player: Dangmei Grace (Radha Madhav Sanskrit Vidyalaya, Nambol, Bishnupur, Manipur) Fairplay Award: Fountainhead School, Surat (Gujarat).