Ong Tshering to captain young Sikkim squad to Santosh Trophy zonal

GANGTOK, 12 Jan: A 20-member squad is all set to represent Sikkim in the zonal round of the Senior National Football Tournament for Santosh Trophy to be held at Jamshedpur in Jharkhand. This time, the state team is primarily featuring young footballers playing for the first time in this prestigious tournament. This young squad will be backed by few experienced footballers of the state. The team is being led by experienced mid-fielder, Ong Tshering Lepcha as captain.
The team members are:

East Zone Santosh Trophy qualifying round concludes with West Bengal and Services through to final round

GANGTOK, 31 Jan: West Bengal has also secured its place in the final round of the ongoing 68th edition of the National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy. With this Services and West Bengal have qualified from the East Zone for the final round of the tournament.
Playing the last match of Group ‘B’ for East Zone here at Paljor Stadium today, West Bengal held Odisha for a goalless draw. Topping Group B with 7 points from its 3 matches, the Services has qualified for the final round, while Odisha is in second position with 5 points from 3 matches.
Similarly, in the other match of Group ‘B’ played today, Chhattisgarh outplayed Bihar 2-1. Vijayendra Kumar scored the lead for Chhattisgarh in the 13th minute while his teammate Athnes Baxla extended the lead in the 40th minute to finish the first half with a 2-0 lead. In the second half, the face saver for Bihar was scored by Md Aftab Alam in the 74th minute.
In Group ‘B’, Chhattisgarh stood in the third position with 4 points and Bihar finished last with no points.
In Group ‘A’, Services is on the top with 6 points followed by Sikkim in the second position with 3 points and Jharkand in the last position with no points.

Sikkim crashes out of Santosh Trophy

…GOES DOWN TO SERVICES 0-1
GANGTOK, 30 Jan: Sikkim’s hopes of remaining in the ongoing 68th edition of the National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy for East Zone here at Paljor Stadium were dashed today. Playing its last match in group-A this afternoon, Sikkim went down 0-1 to the Services.
Both teams played an attacking game from the start but missed some good opportunities to take the lead in the match. The first half almost ended in a goalless draw until Lalan Ramniengmawia scored the lead for the Services in the 42nd minute and finished the first half with 1-0 lead.
No goals were scored in the second half and the Services won the match with the solitary goal. With their second consecutive win, the Services has now qualified for the final round of the tournament to be played at Kanchenjunga Stadium in Siliguri from 24 February to 09 March.
Last matches in group ‘B’ will be played on Friday, in which West Bengal will take on Odisha in the first half at 11 AM and the second match will be played between Bihar and Chhattisgarh at 1:30 PM. Only one team from group B will advance to the final round.

EAST ZONE SANTOSH TROPHY UPDATE

Chhattisgarh holds Odisha to goalless draw
GANGTOK, 29 Jan: Chhattisgarh held Odisha for a goalless draw today in the ongoing 68th edition of the National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy for East Zone here at Paljor Stadium.
In the second match of the day, West Bengal outplayed Bihar 2-1. Bijoy Mandi scored the lead for West Bengal in the 37th minute finishing the first half with a scoreline of 1-0.
In the second half, Md Aftab Alan scored the equalizer for Bihar in the 68th minute but within a few minutes Sumit Orao extended the lead of West Bengal to 2-1 in the 72nd minute. With the final whistle, West Bengal finished the match with 2-1 lead.
On Thursday, Sikkim will take on Services in its second match in the tournament.

EAST ZONE SANTOSH TROPHY

Services thrashes Jharkhand 4-0
GANGTOK, 28 Jan: The Services team thrashed Jharkhand 4-0 in the ongoing 68th edition of the National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy for East Zone today here at Paljor Stadium.
With a goal from Farhad Khan in the 31st minute, Services finished the first half with 1-0 lead. Soon in the second half, Santu Subba extended the lead of Services to 2-0 with his goal in the 53rd minute and within six minutes his teammate Arjun Tudo scored the third goal in the 59th minute. With the goal by Shadip Rai in the 88th minute, Services registered the victory of 4-0.
On Wednesday, Chattisgarh will take on Odisha in the first match at 11 AM, which will be followed by another match between West Bengal and Bihar.

Santosh Trophy East Zone kicks off at Paljor Stadium

GANGTOK, 27 Jan: The 68th edition of the National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy for East Zone was kicked off here at Paljor Stadium on Sunday. The inaugural day had the Governor Shriniwas Patil as the chief guest, while Sports Minister, NK Pradhan was present as the guest of honour.
In the inaugural match played yesterday, Sikkim defeated Jharkhand 2-1. Suman Dewan in the 64th minute and Kintup Ongpo Lachungpa in the 69th minute scored one goal each for Sikkim.
Likewise, two matches were played today in the tournament. In the first match, West Bengal defeated Chattisgarh by a solitary goal. The lone goal of West Bengal was scored by Sukdev Meru in the 25th minute.
Odisha thrashed Bihar 5-0 in the second match of the day. For Odisha, SK Mustakin, SK Shahanawaz, Niranjan Sardar and SK Zahid scored goals.
On Tuesday, Services will take on Jharkhand at 1:30 PM.

Sikkim sends 20-member squad for Santosh Trophy

GANGTOK, 29 Jan: A 20-member team will be representing Sikkim in the 67th edition of Senior National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy 2013 scheduled to be held at Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh from 01 February to 03 March.
The final list of the 20-member team was announced by the SFA general secretary, Menla Ethenpa today at Paljor Stadium. A total of 36 footballers attended the trials, of whom 20 were shortlisted to represent the State at this prestigious tournament by a selection committee constituted the SFA headed by SYA Deputy Director [coaching], Thupden Rapgyal.
The team will be led by Tenzing Tsephel as team captain, while other team members are Tshering Zangpo, Chandan Chettri, Abhishek Rai, Tempo Bhutia, Bikash Thapa, Pawan Chettri, Khusen Mangar, Nicolas Rai, Bibek Bhutia, Yougyal Lepcha, Soraj Rawat, Sagar Rai, Pema Bhutia, Inchen Yonzon, Karma Dorjee, Narayan Chettri, Yakub Biswakarma, Pahalman Rai and Samir Pradhan.
Amos Subba has been given the responsibility of the team coach for the first time, while Dorjee Tamang of SFA will also accompany the team as manager.
In the qualifying round, Sikkim has been placed in Cluster D along with Madhya Pradesh, Tripura, Pondicherry and Uttarakhand. Sikkim will be playing its first match against Madhya Pradesh on 03 February followed by the second match against Pondicherry on 05 February, then with Uttarakhand on 07 February and finally against Tripura on 09 February.
While announcing the names of team members, Mr Ethenpa mentioned that this time the SFA has given emphasis to young players so the team mostly consists of U-20 players. He further expressed that due to financial constraints SFA could not rope in Sikkimese players playing in different clubs of the country.
While congratulating the selected players, he encouraged the team to maintain discipline as they will be acting as ambassadors of the state. For those who could not make it in the team, he urged them not to get disheartened but to put in more effort to get through next time.
Likewise, Mr Rapgyal mentioned that this time a young team will be representing the state and added that participating in this prestigious tournament was big opportunity for the young players. In this regard, he urged them to put in all their efforts and to maintain good discipline for the sake of the state.
The team will be leaving for the tournament on Wednesday.

Santosh Trophy selection trials in Feb

GANGTOK, 20 Jan: Sikkim Football Association [SFA] in coordination with Sports & Youth Affairs Department, Govt. of Sikkim is conducting a selection trial for the upcoming 67th edition of National Football Championship for Santosh Trophy scheduled to be held at Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh in the first week of February.
A Sikkim Football Association press release invites interested footballers to contact SFA representatives or Deputy Director [Coaching] Thupden Rapgyal and Amos Subba of SYA to attend the trials to be held at 2 PM on 22 January at Paljor Stadium.
It is informed that the shortlisted players in the trials will go for a coaching camp before the announcement of the final list of the state players to represent Sikkim in this prestigious tournament.