Over 350 boys and girls from the Udaipur zone were a part of the grand inaugural day of first-ever Zinc Football Youth Tournament
Udaipur : The debut edition of the Zinc Football Youth Tournament kick-started with much fanfare at the Delhi Public School Ground in Udaipur on Thursday. This never-attempted-before tournament, which is an initiative by Hindustan Zinc Limited in association with Rajasthan Football Association, was flagged off from the Udaipur zone which saw a total of 35 teams going head to head for top honours in the presence of Mr Arun Misra, Deputy CEO, Hindustan Zinc, Mr Balwant Singh Rathore, Zawar Mines Head, Hindustan Zinc, Mr Rajeev Bora, Dariba Mines Head, Hindustan Zinc, Mr Shakeel Ahmed, Secretary, Udaipur Football Association, Sunil Rodger, Joint Secretary, District Football Association, Mr Syed, Senior Vice President, District Football Association and Mr Sanjay Narwaria, Principal, Delhi Public School.
Eventually DAV HZL Zawar Mines and Lucky Football Club won the titles in the boys and girls category respectively to qualify for the State Championship to be held in July at the fabled Zawar Stadium, where the winners of every zone will lock horns to determine the ultimate champion of Rajasthan.
The winners battled through their respective categories with DAV HZL School Zawar Mines beating Lucky Football Club (Boys) 2-0 in the final. Arjuna Meena and Jitender Meena scored one goal each in the final. Jitender Meena also scored a total of 8 goals throughout the tournament. In the Girls’ final, Lucky Football Club defeated Youth Club Seva Mandir 2-0. Lucky Football Club’s Bharti Tribhan and Rakshita Sharma scored three goals apiece throughout the tournament.
Speaking about the tournament, Sunil Duggal, Chief Executive Officer, Hindustan Zinc Limited said, “This tournament has been our collective dream since establishing the Zinc Football project and today, I am really happy to see these young children getting a platform to play where the best will be filtered out for further assessment. This is just the beginning and we intend on reaching more and more kids across Rajasthan.”
Dilip Singh Shekhawat, Secretary, Rajasthan Football Association, said, “Zinc Football Youth Tournament is a major hallmark for Rajasthan Football. We are glad to be associated with Hindustan Zinc for carrying out this massive initiative on such a never-attempted-before scale. I am extremely happy to see teams from all corners of Udaipur participating today. I congratulate the winners and urge them to prepare well for the state championship which is due in a few months.”
Zinc Football Youth Tournament has been conceptualised with an aim to create a funnel to identify and promote the best footballing talent in the state. The inaugural edition of Zinc Football Youth Tournament will be conducted over the next six months, covering all the 33 districts in the state and will see the participation of more than 500 schools and over 5000 young girls and boys under the age of 15 years. The tournament is being executed by The Football Link, the strategy and implementation partners of Zinc Football.