DAYA News Bureau, 6th March 2023: Jemua Vadubala Vidyapith won the two-day football tournament organized by Durgapur Adda Young Association, and lifted the “Sudhindra Kumar Sen Memorial Challenge Shield” while the runners-up Bidhannagar Boys High School won the “Sudip Chakraborty Memorial Challenge Shield”.
In the final held on 5th March 2023, Jemua Vadubala Vidyapith defeated Bidhannagar Boys High School in a tiebreaker as the game was scoreless in full time. Sanjay Hansda of Jemua Vadubala Vidyapeeth was awarded as the best footballer of the final.
Jemua Vadubala Vidyapeeth had unquestionable dominance in the final; in at least two cases, the Jemua players could not score despite finding the goalkeeper of Bidhannagar Boys alone.
The tournament for the under-16 school student’s that entered its second year was held with great enthusiasm on 4th and 5th March 2023 at the Azad Hind ground adjacent to Muchipara in Durgapur.
Last year’s champion team Bijra High School and runners-up team Bidhannagar Boys High School got bye for the second round. In the first day of the two-day tournament, seven school teams and the team consisting of Sinchon students (Sinchon is an initiative of DAYA), played a total of four knock-out matches. The four teams that won are: Sagarbhanga High School (beat Sinchon), Jemua Vadubala Vidyapeeth (beat Palashdiha High School), Durgapur Projects Boys High School (beat DVC-DTPS High School), Amalajora High School (beat MAMC Modern).
In the next round of group league play, Sagarbhanga and Project Boys were placed in Group A with last time winner Bijara High School, while Jemua Vadubala Vidyapith and Amlajora were placed in Group B with last time runners Bidhannagar Boys High School.
After the group league play, Bijra got the top spot in Group A; Project Boys got the second place. Bidhannagar Boys got the top position in Group B, Jemua Vadubala got the second position.
In the first semi-final Bidhannagar Boys defeated Project Boys 2-0, while Jemua Vadubala Vidyapith defeated Bijra High School in tiebreaker after the score line remained goalless in scheduled time.
Each player of the winning team in the final was presented with a Dr. Bidyut Bhattacharya named memento and each of the runners up team players was presented with memento named after late Asim Kumar Majumdar. As an attempt to move school students from the virtual world of mobile games to the field, Durgapur Adda Young Association took this initiative since 2021. The enthusiasm and excitement among the students and teachers of different schools about this tournament was worth seeing.