Town Club of Silchar, lifted the prestigious Mridul Hore Prize Money football trophy defeating Tarapur Athletic Club by a margin of 2-1, played at Silchar District Sports Association ground, Saturday evening.
The match was evenly fought for the whole of 90 minutes. The finals played on Saturday saw Town Club scoring the first goal at the stroke of 29th minute into the first half by Lalhmingchhuanga which was later equalized by Tarapur AC at the beginning of the second half at 55 minutes by Titas Rongmei.
But, the decider at 78 minute by Town Club’s Lal Buatsaiha, sealed the spot for them to lift the cup.
Former Assam sports minister Ajit Singh gave away the prizes with the winners pocketing Rs 5,000, while the runners Tarapur AC took home Rs 3000.
Later, speaking to Northeast Now, Subimal Dhar, DSA Silchar general secretary said, “We are holding camps in rural areas to hunt for future stars from this district. Already we are preparing a list in this regard, and hopefully this winter we would call all these young talents and after making arrangements for their stay in DSA we would train them for a good number of days.”
Babul Hore, Silchar DSA president and the one who runs this Mridul Hore football trophy as in the name of his younger brother who died in 1973 aged just 19 years, said, “My younger brother was a very good player himself but died young. This tournament was started in 1975 itself after his death and in his memory among teams which were not registered with DSA Silchar, but, in 1985 it was merged with teams registered under DSA and now every year it is being held out here on this ground.”
Babul Hore added, “In the 1950s and 1960s, Barak valley used to be a bread basket for footballers of Assam. Half of the side of Assam used to have players from this region and most of the time the senior trials too used to take place here for representing outside the state. Plans are on to bring those lost glory back, but now, most take to cricket which is another factor for us not being able to produce local level footballers.”
Former Assam sports minister Ajit Singh said, “We have watched a game played with discipline and devotion for this sport, for which, I salute both the teams and their club members. We would anxiously wait to see another battle on the field between these teams when the super division football of DSA begins on August 29 next.”