U20 men’s football nationals: Sikkim, Telangana prove too good in big wins

Sikkim and Telangana were the big winners in Group H of the Swami Vivekananda U-20 Men’s National Football Championship at the Ramakrishna Ashrama Ground, here on Monday. Both teams won by identical 5-0 margins to take the top positions in the group.

Sikkim put in a flawless performance in the opening Group H encounter against Andaman and Nicobar, winning 5-0 courtesy of a Pravin Dorjee hat-trick (3′, 56′, 82′). Dorjee’s hat-trick kick-started early in the game when he capitalised on some defensive miscommunication between the Andaman defenders to volley home the opener brilliantly.

Despite the early setback, Andaman and Nicobar did well to hold Sikkim off for the rest of the first half. It was only in the second that the floodgates truly opened. Aside from Dorjee, the other goals came via Pranil Gurung (73′) and an own goal by Roshen in the 87th minute.

Telangana put Bihar to the sword

Later in the day, Telangana toyed with Bihar in the one-sided affair. They opened their scoring in the 9th minute, via Sahil Tamang, who produced a brilliant free kick from the edge of the box. The defender capitalised on an irregular wall to curl the ball into the top-right corner to give his team the lead.

Despite a heavy downpour making play difficult, Telangana completely dominated proceedings. Minal Kumar (24′), Shyam Devarapalli (28′) and Syed Imtiyaz Ahmed (57,88′) completed the rout.