SHILLONG: The grand finale of the Aircel 5-A-Side Campus Football Tournament organised in association with Shillong Lajong FC, concluded at the JN Stadium, Polo, on Saturday, with SAI from Meghalaya bagging the top honours, beating ASL from Manipur in the final of the tournament.
The competition witnessed participation from 146 teams from various parts of the North East battling it out for the ultimate prize in matches held across Shillong, Imphal, Aizawl, Dimapur and Guwahati.
The grand finale was organised in a league format and the teams from Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Assam faced each other with the top two teams qualifying for the final.
SAI emerged as the table toppers with 10 points from four games while the second spot went to ASL from Manipur, with nine points from four games.
The final started off brightly with both teams vying for the ultimate prize. The two teams shared equal ball possession and tried their best to take the lead but unfortunately were not able to break the deadlock, hence the game ended all square and the match had to be taken to penalties.
Crossing over, the tie breaker was the ultimate decider of the tournament and SAI scored the only goal in the penalty shoot out thereby finishing as the champions of the tournament.
As part of this unique initiative five of the talented and aspiring footballers will live their dream by training with SLFC for a week; Meban Khraw, Dayananda Singh, Zosangliana, Neisakolie and Uttam Kr Das. Dayananda of ASLwas also named as the Player-of-the-Tournament.
In addition to that, SLFC may enrol one of the top performing youngsters in the academy, giving him an opportunity to come through the ranks and play for Lajong as a professional footballer.