KOZHIKODE: After about a gap of seven years, Calicut University emerged as the South Zone inter-university football champions.
The university team registered victories against Anna University and Annamalai Universi-ty, both by a 1-0 scoreline, and held MG University to a goalless draw to top the table with seven points in the league matches held at Muvattupuzha here on Tuesday.
MG University finished as runners-up with six points. “We played eight matches in the last four days and it was a grueling schedule, but players came up with brilliant performance to bag the trophy,” said Satish Balan, the coach of the Calicut University football team.
“Pool ‘C’ was the toughest group. We never gave a serious thought to winning the championship. We only had plans to qualify for the nationals. But the players did an awesome job, so we now advance to the all-India competition as zonal champions. This gives us a lot of confidence, and we are now aiming for the national title,”
The all-India tournament will be held at Muvattupuzha January 26 onwards.
Kerala camp for santosh trophy begins
DC CORRESPONDENT
KOCHI: The preliminary camp of the Kerala team that will participate at the Santosh Trophy was inaugurated at the Laxmibai National College of Physical Education in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday.
The team comprises 25 players selected from the state inter-district championship. The camp is led by veteran coach A.M. Sreedharan. Sreedharan will be assisted by Satheevan Balan, with Sumesh as camp co-ordinator.
The Santosh Trophy is scheduled to be played at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in Chennai from January 26. Kerala are clubbed with Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Railways in the group stage.
Kerala-Goa game set for close finish
DC CORRESPONDENT
Kochi: Bowlers ruled the roost on Day Three as the Ranji Trophy Group ‘C’ match between Kerala and hosts Goa is evenly poised at Porvorim.
The early sessions on Tuesday clearly belonged to the hosts, who, after conceding a lead of 31 runs, retaliated by dismissing the visitors for just 147 in their second essay.
Spinners Shadab Jakati and Amit Yadav troubled Kerala, scalping seven wickets between them. It was only thanks to an unlikely seventh wicket stand of 83 runs that the visitors managed some semblance of recovery.
The in-form Vinoop Manoharan and P. Prashanth scored 40 and 46 respectively as Kerala bounced back from a catastrophic 55 for 6 to score 147 runs. Needing just 179 to win the match, and with more than a day remaining, the hosts were up for a bumpy ride themselves.
Left arm spinner K.R. Sreejith dismissed Asnodkar and Misal off successive overs as the Goan chase remains uneasily perched at 82 for 5. With 97 more required, Goa seek inspiration from their wicket-keeper Keenan Vaz, who is unbeaten on 33.
Brief scores: Kerala 273 in 83 overs (Vinoop 87, Nikhilesh 84, Sachin 54, Mangaldas 3/66, Jakati 3/72, Gadekar 2/41) & 147 in 62.5 overs (P. Prasanth 46, Vinoop 40, Jakati 4/44, Yadav 3/26, Mangaldas 2/33) vs Goa 242 in 91.2 overs (Kamat 96, Desai 49, Niyas 6/82) & 82/5 in 28 overs (Vaz 33 not out, Sreejith 2/25, Parameswaran 2/15).
State sides enter finals
Kochi: Kerala men and women teams stormed into the finals of 38th senior national tenni-koit championship at Odisha on Tuesday. The men defeated Karnataka 3-0 in the semifinals while the women team drubbed Tamil Nadu 3-0.
