Aizwal wins Subroto Cup

New Delhi:

Government High School Aizwal from Mizoram has won the 41st edition of the Subroto Cup--the prestigious junior football tournament beating Army Boys Bangalore by two goals to none in the final held at the Ambedkar Stadium on Wednesday. Earlier St Johns school Meghalaya had won the sub-junior championship, clearly marking the dominance of the teams from the northeast. For over four decades now the Subroto Cup played in memory of the first Air Chief Subroto Mukherjee has been the launching pad for many a promising school talent to find expression in the national and international arena. Just minutes before the final match between government school Aizwal and Army Boys Bangalore there was a spectacular display of skydiving by the "Air Devils" the skydiving team of the Indian Airforce. The Aizwal side would have won it 3-0 but a powerful shot by Lal towards the end was tipped over by Sabeesh. The team from Mizoram clinched the title comfortably and took home Rs 50,000 and the St John Bosco Boy's School, Sohra, Meghalaya, who had won the sub-junior title on Tuesday were richer by Rs 30,000 marking the complete domination of the teams from the northeast. "I am very happy and satisfied with the performance and its according to our plan .We have lot of talented players and if we have proper training then there will be more and more players coming here," said Coach Lensanga, government school, Mizoram. Baichung Bhutia who was first discovered a decade ago also at the Subroto Cup had some words of encouragement for Danny--the star of the Mizo team. Bhutia currently recovering from knee surgery says that in the north east football is not just a sport but also an escape. "When you are a kid and you see a lot of disturbance in your state, I think this the best way is to get involved with sports. There's this fighting spirit in them and they are aggressive as well so I think that's why a lot of players do well especially in physical sports," said Baichung Bhutia. With the AIFF now planning a major football promotion, they would do well to target the immense wealth of talent from the northeast.