Sachdev Sports Cup Under-16 Football Tournament: Events in Hyderabad

REVIEW FOR SACHDEV SPORTS CUP UNDER-16...

At least Gill happened to Indian hockey and gave it some direction - nothing is happening at all to Indian football. Hopefully, Aleem and Jesu Raj will.

The Shastri Soccer Club is organising The Sachdev Sports Cup Under-16 Football Tournament from 19th to 27th May, at the Lalbazaar Football Grounds in Trimulgherry. 16 teams are participating in this knockout format tournament, divided into two groups.

Group A has Gymkhana A, Trimulgherry B, Central Battery, Venkatapuram A, V V Nagar, Trimulgherry C, FUC and Tarnaka. Group B has Gymkhana B, JJ Nagar, Venkatapuram B, Gandhinagar, Kamalanagar, Bolarum, Trimulgherry A, and Ramakrishnapuram (R K Puram). All the matches in both the groups will be played in the knockout format, as per the schedule given below:

19th May
4:00pm - Gymkhana A Vs Trimulgherry B
5:30pm - Gandhinagar Vs Kamalanagar

20th May
4:00pm - Gymkhana A Vs R K Puram
5:30pm - Central Battery Vs Venkatapuram A

21st May
4:00pm - V V Nagar Vs Trimulgherry C
5:30pm - J J Nagar Vs Bolarum

22nd May
4:00pm - Trimulgherry A Vs Venkatapuram B
5:30pm - FUC Vs Tarnaka

23rd May
4:00pm - Winner of match 1 played on 19th Vs Winner of match 2 played on 20th
5:30pm - Winner of match 2 played on 19th Vs Winner of match 1 played on 20th

24th May
4:00pm - Winner of match 2 played on 21st Vs Winner of match 1 played on 22nd
5:30pm - Winner of match 1 played on 21st Vs Winner of match 2 played on 22nd

25th May - Semifinals
4:30pm - Winner of match 1 played on 23rd Vs Winner of match 2 played on 24th

26th May - Semifinals
4:30pm - Winner of match 2 played on 23rd Vs Winner of match 1 played on 24th

27th May - Final
4:30pm - Winner of semifinal 1 played on 25th Vs Winner of semifinal 2 played on 26th

Winners and runners-up will be given trophies.

A commemorative veterans match with many former national and international players will be played between Aleem Khan XI and Jesuraj XI, as part of the closing ceremony at 5:30pm on 27th May. Aleem Khan XI will be captained by Aleem Khan, a ex-international player, and has S S Wasim (ex-international), Syed Arif, Muzaffar, Palguna, Rajkumar (all ex-intl. junior players), Chandrasekhar, Ramson, Abidi, Iftikar, Shameem, Yadgiri, Gnaneshwar and Anthony (all ex-state players).

Jesu Raj XI will captained by Jesu Raj, an Indian Railways and ex-national, and features Victor Amalraj (ex-intl.), B R Vivekananda, Jaikumar, D G Jagdish, Md. Moosa, Machander Kumar, M Mohan Sr, M Mohan Jr, Francis Xavier, Saibaba, Krishna (all ex-state players) and Md. Maidi (ex-intl. junior).

With no state and federation support, this tournament is being organised with internal funding from Sachdev Sports and die-hard footballers like Tony, Jesu Raj, Aleem Khan, Amalraj and Mohan. They pick children from the nearby slums and coach them free of cost. To enthuse them, they organise under-16 and under-18 community level tournaments and inter-schools tournaments at the Lalbazaar football ground.

This ground has been the hub of many football activities since the 1960s, and has produced some of the best footballers of those days, like Victor Amalraj, K P Dhanraj, Balaraman, Peter Thangaraj, D Kannan, P Ramaswamy, Aleem Khan, Tony and John Victor.

There is no entry fee for participating in the tournament. Please contact Jesu Raj at 98492-78268 for further details.