AIFF Media Team
KALYANI, WEST BENGAL: Striker Robi Hansda was on song as West Bengal routed Uttar Pradesh 7-0 in Group C qualifiers of the 78th National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy at the Kalyani Stadium on Monday, November 8, 2024.
Hansda alone accounted for four goals for the winners, who led 5-0 at half time. He opened the scoring in the eighth minute and completed his hat-trick with goals in the 33rd and 48th minute.
While Hansda added another to his tally in the 83rd minute, not to be left far behind was Manotos Maji, who, too, scored three goals to record the second hat-trick of the match.
With six points from two matches, Bengal are strongly placed in the group, followed by Bihar and Jharkhand, who have three points each after two matches. The day’s other match was between these two teams, and Jharkhand emerged the winners with a 5-3 margin.
The match witnessed quite a few ups and downs as Bihar shot into the lead through Mohammed Tauhid Ahmad, who scored in the eighth minute, only to find Jharkhand restore parity three minutes later through Manjeet Karmali. Finally, Jharkhand, who led 3-2 at half time, found their other goals via Jaypal Singh Sirka (18’), Ranjit Mardi (26’), Pankaj Baskey (68’) and Upendra Hazam (90+4’).
Apart from Tauhid Ahmad, Bihar’s other goals came from Karan Prajapati (62’) and Manjeet Karmali (own goal, 45+1).
Maharashtra register first win
JAIPUR, RAJASTHAN: Maharashtra picked up three points in Group I at the Royal FC Stadium defeating Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu 3-0.
Himanshu Patil, who scored a goal in Maharashtra’s losing battle against Rajasthan the other day, found the net twice in this match to lead his team to victory. Sumit Bhandari opened the scoring for Maharashtra in the fifth minute. The winners now have three points from two matches.
The leaders in this group, however, are Gujarat and Rajasthan with four points each. The two teams met in the day’s other encounter that ended in a goalless draw.
Tuesday, November 19, 2024 fixtures:
Group D (Agartala): Sikkim vs Mizoram (9 am); Tripura vs Manipur (4 pm).
Group G (Anantapur): Tamil Nadu vs Andhra Pradesh (9 am); Karnataka vs Andaman and Nicobar (3 pm).
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