Boys’ Club revives Inter-Departmental Football Tournament

GANGTOK, 01 Oct: The Inter-Departmental Football Tournament was kicked off by Chief Secretary Karma Gyatso here at Paljor Stadium today. Originally organized by the Sikkim Football Association on sponsorship by the Home Department, the tournament has been revived after a gap of many years by one of the oldest football clubs of Sikkim, Boy’s Club, this year.
A total of 22 teams representing various government departments are taking part in the tournament which will be played in the league format with each team playing four matches each. The matches are on the “recreation format” of 35 minutes for each half and five substitutions allowed for the teams in each match.
In his inaugural address, the Chief Secretary expressed his happiness on the revival of this tournament and thanked Boy’s Club for taking the initiative.
Former Chief Secretary, PK Pradhan, who is also a former Sikkim Football Association president, also expressed his happiness on the revival of the tournament and urged Boy’s Club to sustain its initiative.
Likewise, the Sports and Youth Affairs Secretary, Karma P Bhutia also congratulated the Boy’s Club for resuming the tournament after a long gap.
Boy’s Club coordinator, Basant Gurung thanked all the government departments for supporting the tournament and mentioned that money saved from the organisation of the tournament will be used to train underprivileged children [aged between 12 to 17 years] enrolled in the Boy’s Club Academy. He also expressed gratitude towards the Chief Secretary on behalf of the club for granting permission to revive the tournament.
The inaugural match was played between Sikkim Legislative Assembly and Law Department, which the former won 3-0. In other matches played later in the day, Home Department outplayed DoP 2-1 and Land Revenue Department beat Planning and Development Department 4-3.