The Qualifying Round of the Royceton Gomes Memorial Football Tournament began today on the grounds of St. Paul’s High School. The Qualifying Round is played by Schools ranked 13 to 24 to determine 4 Pool Winners who will qualify to join the Main Draw round.
The first match at 2:30 PM was played between Benson High School and Dnyan Mandir High School. In the first half, Dnyan Mandir had an edge by getting numerous chances to score. Even though Nelson Kinagi from Benson had a free kick, no goals were scored in the first half. In the second half as well, Yash Patil from Benson also had another free kick, but could not convert it again. But in the 42nd minute of the match, Manohar Murgali was able to convert a corner into a goal that won Benson the match. The final score was 1 – 0.
The second match at 3:30 PM was played between St. Mary’s High School and Phenix Eng Med School. The match began well balanced with both sides playing well and making numerous attempts to score. No goals were scored in the first half. The second half, Md Affan Savanur of St Mary’s opened the score of the match by converting a penalty kick into a goal in the 28th minute. Phoenix Eng Med School fought back hard to score but St. Mary’s won the match 1 – 0.
The third and final match of the day at 4:30 PM was played between SKE Marathi School and Karnataka Daivajnya School. This match, too, began by both teams playing equally well and both teams fighting hard to score a goal. The goal-keeper of Karnataka Daivajnya, Mahinder Singh Potiwal, played very well and saved many goals for his team. Again, no goals were scored in the first half of the match. In the second half, in the 35th minute of the match, Gajendra Punekar, scored the first goal of the match for SKE Marathi School. Karnataka Daivajnya fought hard to equal the score but that could not stop Manish Wadkar from SKE Marathi School to score double goals in the 46th and 50th minutes. SKE Marathi School won the match 3 – 0.
The second day of the league will continue tomorrow on the grounds of St. Paul’s High School with Bharatesh High School taking on Sarvodaya Vidyalaya, Khanapur, at 2:30 PM, then followed by Dnyan Mandir High School versus Oriental High School at 3:30 PM and then the last match at 4:30 PM played by St. Mary’s High School and Shaikh Central School.
