NCC girls march into Subroto Cup quarters

Fourteen Battalion NCC Manipur became the first Junior Girls (Under-17) team to seal its quarterfinal berth after thrashing Gayatri Vidyapeeth Shantikunj from Uttarakhand 19-0 at the Ambedkar Stadium in the ongoing 56th Subroto Cup Football Tournament here today.
Earlier in the day, Government Senior Secondary School from Bhiwani (Haryana) also moved into the last-eight stages when they edged past Presbyterian English School (Mizoram) with a solitary goal in a match played at NWC ground. The lone goal came from skipper Nisha.
The first set of quarterfinals in the girls section will take place on Sunday.
A seven goal-spree by W. Ranji Bala Devi was the highlight of NCC's domination which was carried on by teammates with goals from TH Preemita Devi (2m, 24m), Y.Thailand Devi (5, 47, 55), Thaibi Devi (15, 38, 40), TH Jardabi Devi (58), TH Geetharani Devi (33), T. Bombem Devi (42) and A. Norgpokleima (50). Faced with such a goal-glut one cannot blame the opposition for not trying as every bit of effort by the Uttrakhand girls went in vain as NCC hardly let the ball possession go their rival's way.

Taking cue from NCC, St. Mary's Higher Scondary School from Tamil Nadu handed out KD Vidyalaya and Junior College from Maharashtra with the heaviest 26-0 defeat in the tournament. M. Malavika of Tamil Nadu was on a rampage, hitting the target a dozen times with substantial contributions coming from K. Rasika (7 goals) and A. Karthika (5 goals).
There was no respite from the goal-spree as Rashtriya Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya, Delhi, humiliated another Delhi outfit, Air Force Bal Bharti School 8-0, thanks to Prerna Negi's enterprising inroads and finding the net four times.
In another match, Hazaribagh Higher Secondary school from Jharkhand showed their true colours when they beat Sarla Bhupendra Nath Sarkar High School from West Bengal 7-0. Dular Marandi struck three times, while Mamta Kumar and Sandhya scored a brace each.

Sujata Baro was the savior for SAI North East Regional Centre, Guwahati, as her goal in the closing minutes helped her team draw 2-2 against SAM GMR Sports School from Kerala. Incidentally, this was the lone match that ended in a draw in the tournament so far.