Gangtok/Margao: Newly-promoted United Sikkim FC stunned Salgaocar SC of Goa, handing them a 3-2 shock defeat in the opener of I-League on Saturday.

United Sikkim in their debut match at the premier football league came from behind to beat 2010-12 champions Salgaocar SC 3-2 in front of cheering home crowd at Paljor Stadium in Gangtok.

Gangtok, perched at 5,000 feet, is the newest venue of the I-League.

Salgaocar’s Angel Guirado and Milagres Gonsalves struck home in the 50th and 56th minute, but United Sikkim retaliated immediately with Nurudeen Salau (52nd), Lineker Machado (64th) and winner came from Sandesh Jhingan in the 75th minute.

In Kolkata Pailan Arrows defeated Mumbai FC 3-2.

While Holicharan Narzari struck twice for Pailan and Oignam Milan Singh scored from a penalty, ND Opara and James Singh strike one each for Mumbai in their first away game.

In Gangtok United Sikkim fought back from one goal down twice to upset established Salgaocar 3-2 in a thrilling match.

After a dull first 45 minutes, the game exploded in the second half when Angel Guirado gave the Goan club the lead in the 50th minute. A horrific misunderstanding between United Sikkim goalkeeper Yoon Tae and his defender allowed Aldecuer to head in a rebound.

The Snow Lions, happy until then in defending deep, responded swiftly and restored parity two minutes later.

Their striker Buddiram Tudu rode in unchallenged from midfield but his shot was parried by Salgaocar goalkeeper Karanjit Singh. Nurudeen Salau arrived in time to poke home the loose ball and equalise for Sikkim.

Even before the 12,000 odd home supporters could finish celebrating the first I-League goal of United Sikkim, Salgaocar took the lead for the second time in 56th minute.

A quickly taken free kick beat an unprepared United Sikkim defence and goalkeeper, but hit the post.

Milagres Gonsalves was at the correct place to capitalise on the rebound and make the score 2-1 in favour of Salgaocar.

Sikkim refused to concede defeat and left winger Lineker Machado equalised with a fine strike in the 64th minute. Boosted by a boisterous home crowd, Sikkim then took the lead in the 75th minute when defender Sandesh Jhingan rose highest to head an Ashish Chettri free kick.

United Sikkim withstood fierce pressure from Salgaocar for the remaining period to bag three full points in their I-League debut match.

Meanwhile, defending champions Dempo lived up to their billing as they edged past Churchill Brothers 2-1 in Fatorda.

Ryuji Sueoka put Dempo in the lead in the second minute when he slammed the ball into the net after rival keeper Sandip Nandy failed to grab the ball which was directed from the right by Clifford Miranda.

Roberto Silva restored parity in the 47th minute for Churchill before Sueoka scored the winning goal in the 75th minute.

Both teams started on an attacking note with Churchill Brothers having the ball possession for the better part of the first half as they probed more often but failed to find the mark.

Dempo took an early lead in the second minute when rival keeper Sandip Nandy failed to grab the ball off a long lob and Sueoka pounced on the loose ball.

Churchill restored parity soon after the break when Robeto Silva cashed in on a rebound after keeper Chowdhury blocked Tomba Singh’s shot. (Agencies)

Colombo: He is the most talked about player ahead of the World Twenty20 final but for Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene, the explosive Chris Gayle is “just another player in a very good West Indies team”.

“We never went after individual players. We have tried to control things the way we can control. He (Gayle) is just another player in a very good West Indies team. We have to have our focus on the entire team,” Jayawardene replied instantly when questioned on how he is thinking of tackling the Gayle threat.

For Jayawardene, number crunching is not his calling as he believes that performing on the day is important.

“Records and numbers are all there but what’s important is how you perform and need to react to situations on the day.”

Gayle, who has been aggressively tweeting before every West Indies match had commented, “Sorry Sri Lanka, but we will win the final” after the semifinal win over Australia. The Lankan skipper was certainly not amused.

“When somebody says something like that, is the pressure on us or on him?” he countered.

“I don’t know how to react to that. Probably the pressure is on him when he has said something like that.”

Having lost all the previous three finals that he has been a part of, Jayawardene doesn’t want to think too far ahead of himself.

“It always goes back to that. Going into finals is fantastic and we don’t take it as a negative thing,” said Jayawardene.

“We don’t think too far ahead of ourselves. We don’t want to go back in history and see how to overcome this. We’ll try and back our ability in what we’ve done in this tournament. Other then that, I don’t know how you can approach a final,” Jayawardene said.

Meanwhile, West Indies captain Darren Sammy announced that they are ready to spoil the Sri Lankan party by winning the coveted title.

“Definitely, we will be looking to spoil that party. That’s what we’re looking to do. We left home on a mission and like I have said before, it is just one more hurdle to jump,” a smiling Sammy told a packed media conference on Saturday.

“We want to have our own party. We Caribbean people know how to party. We enjoy parties in depth,” he added.

In the women’s final, to be played on the same day, England will take on Australia. (PTI)

Colombo: Australian Simon Taufel will officiate in Saturday’s World Twenty20 summit clash between Sri Lanka and West Indies – his last assignment as an ICC Elite panel umpire.

The 41-year-old had already announced that he would retire from active umpiring after the World Twenty20 to become the Umpire Performance and Training Manager with the ICC.

In an outstanding career, Taufel umpired in 74 Tests and 174 ODIs with his last Test and ODI appearances being at Lord’s a month ago in matches featuring England and South Africa.

Taufel won the ICC Umpire of the Year award for five successive years from 2004 to 2008 and has been highly regarded for his fairness and skill.

Taufel along with Pakistan’s Aleem Dar will be the on-field umpires for the final between Sri Lanka and West Indies.

Rod Tucker and Ian Gould have been appointed the third and fourth umpires respectively.

The match referee for the game will be Jeff Crowe, an ICC release said. (PTI)

SHILLONG: Thousands of young students and people residing at Pynthorumkhrah area participated in the ‘Run for Peace’ on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary on Tuesday.

Around 1,400 school children participated, according to organisers.

The winners: Banisha Marbaniang (sub junior girls), Innocent Nongphud (junior boys), Jesibel Nongbri (junior girls), Robin Nongrum (senior boys) and Darihun Dkhar (senior girls).

By Our Reporter

 SHILLONG: The football stadium at Mawlai will soon receive a facelift with the allotment of Rs 3 crore for the revamp of this stadium.

Chief Minister Mukul Sangma said this at the closing ceremony of the 2nd Rev Meshak Kharkongor Memorial Invitation Football Tournament at Madan Heh Stadium in Mawlai Phudmuri on Saturday.

The CM stated that while no other state has more than two football grounds with artificial turf, the laying of artificial turf in Mawlai will give Meghalaya three such grounds.

“Besides these, football grounds with artificial turf will soon come up at Ampati and Jowai,” he added.

Saying that Meghalaya has no dearth of talent in the sport of football, Sangma said that the youth of the state need to be encouraged.

“It is a shame that a country with such a large population cannot produce 11 players to compete in the World Cup,” the CM rued while calling upon the youth of the state to lead the way for other states to follow.

The Chief Minister also said that an amount of Rs 70 crore has been set aside for a sports complex at Mawdiangdiang, which will have facilities for sports such as basketball and volleyball besides football.

LONDON: Unbeaten Chelsea put their off-field concerns aside to beat Norwich City 4-1 at Stamford Bridge on Saturday and open up a four-point lead at the top of the Premier League.

The European champions made headlines for all the wrong reasons on Saturday after the publication of the findings of an FA hearing that questioned the accounts given by skipper John Terry and defender Ashley Cole in the notorious racism case involving Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand.

Terry, facing a four match ban and a fine handed out by the FA for his racial slur against Ferdinand last year, and Cole, whose evidence was doubted in the 63-page written document, both played against Norwich, who took an early lead through Grant Holt after 11 minutes.

But Chelsea playing with true style and panache, replied with four from Fernando Torres, Frank Lampard, Eden Hazard and a superb volley from Branislav Ivanovic.

Lampard’s strike was his 129th Chelsea goal in the English Premier League, putting him level with Bobby Tambling as the club’s joint-highest top-flight scorer.

Chelsea manager Roberto Di Matteo said he was pleased to put the events of the last few days behind him.

“I like to talk about football and watch football, but obviously sometimes you have to talk about other stuff,” he told a TV channel.

“But my job is to keep the team focused on what our targets are and we wanted to win this game and be top going into the international break.”

Chelsea, who have won six and drawn one of their seven games, moved to 19 points while Norwich remain winless and second from bottom with three.

In the last match of the day, Arsenal overpowered West Ham 3-1 away, but it wasn’t all plain sailing for the Gunners.

Mohamed Diame put the hosts in front with a goal in the 21st minute before Olivier Giroud scored his first goal for Arsenal in the 41st.

Arsenal seemed the better team almsot throughout, but their further efforts on goal were stymied by West Ham. That is, until the 77th minute, when Theo Walcott made it 2-1. Santi Cazorla then sealed the victory in the 83rd minute.

Champions Manchester City climbed to second on 15 points after beating Sunderland 3-0 at the Etihad Stadium where Aleksandar Kolarov, Sergio Aguero and James Milner were on target.

Like Chelsea, Manchester City remain undefeated and ended Sunderland’s unbeaten league record in the process.

City, with seven changes from the side that drew 1-1 with Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League on Wednesday, took an early lead with a blistering free-kick from Kolarov after five minutes.

Substitute Aguero doubled the lead after an hour, smashing home a Kolarov cross and James Milner completed the scoring after 89 minutes with a freekick which he curled in with ferocious spin from the left of the area.

City manager Roberto Mancini said: “I think in the first half, we missed two or three chances like other games but we had a good performance.

“I am happy because we got a clean sheet, scored three but also because of our performance.”

Sunderland manager Martin O’Neill had no complaints about the outcome.

“Man City deserved to win,” he said. “When it was 1-0 we had a chance and just after the break we had an attacking threat, but overall they were much better and deserved to win the game.

“They were electric. They are fine players, champions of this country and playing big Champions League games.”

Everton slipped from second to third but salvaged a point in a 2-2 draw after trailing twice at Wigan Athletic.

West Bromwich Albion maintained their excellent start with a 3-2 home win over Queens Park Rangers, to climb up to fourth, while QPR remain at the bottom without a win and with only two points from seven matches.

Reading appeared to be heading for their first league win of the season after going 2-0 up at Swansea City, but the home side fought back late to grab a 2-2 draw and avoid a fourth successive loss. (Reuters)