Mizoram lift Dr T Ao Memorial Football Tournament 2012

HOME TEAM GOES DOWN TO MIZORAM IN TIE-BREAKER 
GANGTOK, 09 Mar: Mizoram has lifted the Dr T Ao Memorial Football Tournament played here at Paljor Stadium. In the nail-biting final match played today, Mizoram defeated the home team in a tie-breaker.
Sikkim reached the finals of the tournament defeating Manipur 1-0 in the semi-final, while Mizoram beat Tripura 4-2 to reach the finals. Sikkim reached the final of this tournament for the first time, while Mizoram was the runner-up at the last edition of the tournament.
The stadium was filled mainly with students from different schools of in-and-around Gangtok, who cheered for the home team till the final whistle of the match. Both the teams came on strong, attacking and counter attacking right from the very start. R Laldanmawia gave an early lead to Mizoram scoring in the 14th minute of the match. Sikkim played a good game and tried its best to equalize the score but the first half concluded in favour of Mizoram with the score of 1-0.
Sikkim maintained an attacking game in the second half but was not able to score the equalizer. In the 81st minute of the match, the home team received the golden opportunity in the form of a penalty shoot for a handball in the D-Area, which was successfully turned into the equalizer by Thupden Tshering Bhutia. At full time, the match ended with a score of 1-1. The match then got extended for a tie-breaker to decide the winner through penalty shoot outs.
However, even after five penalty shoot outs no decision could be arrived at, as Nima Tamang of Sikkim and F Lalrinpuia of Mizoram shot outside the goalpost and the match got extended for more penalty shoot outs. Finally, the tenth penalty shot by home team player, Sonam Pintso Lepcha, was stopped by the Mizo goalkeeper winning them the match by a score of 10-09.
In the match for the third place played today, Manipur defeated Tripura 2-1. KH Naoton Singh scored a brace for Manipur in the 6th and 7th minute, while the lone goal of Tripura was scored by Jayantha Jonatan in the 83rd minute of the match.
Chief Whip of the State Government, Ugen T Gyatso, was the chief guest on the final day, accompanied by the UD&HD Minister, DB Thapa, Sports Minister, NK Pradhan and Gangtok MLA, Dorjee Namgyal among others, who gave away the prize money, trophies, certificates and other prizes.
The winners were awarded with the cash prize of Rs 7 lakh, while the runner-up received the cash prize of Rs 4 lakh. Likewise, third and fourth place teams received Rs 2 lakh and Rs 1 lakh respectively and four other teams who did not make it to the semis took home Rs 50,000 each.
I Nilakumar Singh of Manipur was declared as the Player of the Tournament, while his teammate, L Gouro Singh, received the Highest Scorer and even the Best Goalkeeper trophy went to the Manipur goalkeeper.
On the occasion, the department of Sports and Youth Affairs provided cash incentives to 76 sportspersons of Sikkim in different disciplines who won medals in the North-East, National and International levels.
In his address, the Chief Whip stated that this tournament will help to strengthen the regional bond between the north-eastern states and promote brotherhood and mutual understanding between the states. Speaking on the priorities of the state government to the sports, Mr Gyatso encouraged the local players to take the facilities and opportunities provided by the government to do better in their respective discipline. He informed that the state government has been adding sports infrastructures at the different levels in the state. The chief guest also declared the closing of the tournament.
Earlier, the final match was started with the welcome address by the Sports Minister. The cultural programme was presented by the students of Modern Secondary School.