KISS reclaims inter-school football trophy

Champions KISS players with the MCL trophy in Bhubaneswar on Sunday

Bhubaneswar: Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) regained the MCL Cup 29th Inter-School Football Tournament trophy, dethroning defending champions Kalinga Bidyapitha, Sampur, with a 2-0 convincing win in the final at Unit-VI Boys’ High School Ground here on Sunday.
Ganesh Murmu drew first blood with long-range shot in the 23rd minute and Sushant Tudu capped the victory, scoring the second goal in the 36th minute. Murmu’s spectacular goal fetched him the prize as `Payer of the final match’, while Tudu bagged the `Player of the Tournament’ prize with a total of seven goals to his name.
This was the fourth time that KISS emerged champions in the prestigious tournament, which is being organised by premier football club Unit-VI Athletic Association. KISS had achieved a hat-trick by lifting the trophy for the third time in 2015.
State Sports & Youth Services Commissioner-cum-Secretary Vishal Kumar Dev graced the final match as chief guest and encouraged players of both the sides. The trophies and prizes were given away by Sukinda-Angul Railway MD Dillip Kumar Samantaray and Mahanadi Coalfields Limited (MCL) General Manager B B Mishra.
Football Association of Odisha vice-president Bhakta Ballav Das, Unit-VI Athletic Association president Tapan Kumar Mohanty, vice-presidents Akshaya Kumar Das, Prafulla Mishra and Bhubaneswar Athletic Association joint-secretary Naba Ranjan Pattnaik and MCL executive Sritam Das were present at the closing ceremony.
Champions KISS received a cash prize of Rs 10,000, while runners-up Kalinga Bidyapitha were given Rs 5,000. KISS duo Dula Beshra and Kunaram Soren received the prizes as best goalkeeper and best forward of the tournament respectively. The prizes for best defender and best mid-fielder were pocketed by Kalinga Bidyapitha’s Tophan Bhoi and Mihir Dehury respectively. The most promising player of the tournament prize went to Chandan Naik of Capital High School.
The final match was conducted by match commissioner Maheswar Singh along with referees Rajendra Barik, Asirbad Kanungo, Amit Nayak and Bulbul Bhoi.