Amid cheering crowds, thunderous roars and jam-packed sidelines Islamiya School lifted the Memorial Cup 2013 for the 3rd consecutive year in a row. It was an exhilarating and thrilling end to the Memorial Cup 2013 of the Royceton Gomes Memorial Football Tournament. In a tense and exciting match Islamiya School clashed with St. Paul’s School in the Finals match that was held today on the ‘A’ ground of St. Paul’s High School at 4:00 PM.
The Chief Guest for the Finals match was Mr. Amarsinh Patil Ex-MP Belgaum. The match began by Mr. Amarsinh Patil hoisting the Royceton Gomes Memorial Sports flag that was shortly lowered to half-mast, amdist bugles blowing, by Mr. Joe Gomes in memory of his son Royceton. A Thanksgiving Prayer was read by Committee member Mrs. Rose Javalkar. The Chief Guest, escorted by Committee members, personally met the Finalist teams after which the match began.
As most expected, the game was brilliant. Both teams displayed exceptional football skills and fought hard to score. The ball remained with St. Paul’s in the forward line most of the time, but they missed numerous chances to score. Islamiya presented a daunting and formidable defence line which St. Paul’s could not surpass. The first half was tense and exciting and did not see any goal being scored.
It was evident that both teams stepped up their game with outstanding passes and skilful moves in the second half. Even though St. Paul’s had a number of strikes at the goal they clearly lacked a good finish. But it was the Captain of Islamiya, Wasi Gheewala, who shot the superb winning goal for Islamiya in the 43rd minute to lift the Memorial Cup 2013 for the third consecutive year in a row.
At the prize distribution ceremony, the Best Goal-Keeper of the Tournament was awarded to Rahul Gondhali of Phoenix Eng Med School. The Highest Goal Scorer of the Tournament was awarded to Abuzar Bhisti of Islamiya School and the Best Player of the Tournament was awarded to Makrand Halgekar of St. Paul’s High School.
Mrs. Patil gave away the individual Runners-up trophies and the Runners-up trophy to the Captain and Vice-Captain of St. Paul’s School. Mrs. Patil also gave the individual Winners trophies and the Winners trophy to the Captain and Vice-Captain of Islamiya School. Finally, the Chief Guest, Mr. Amarsinh Patil gave the main Memorial Cup Rolling Trophy to the Winning Team Islamiya School.