CHANDIGARH, OCT 11.:Fleet-footed Carmel Convent of Sector 9 defeated St Stephen’s School of Sector 45 by two first-half goals without reply in the final of the Chandigarh Sub-Junior Girls Football Championship for Dr Kamesh Bhargava Memorial Trophy conducted by the Chandigarh Football Association at the Sector 17 Football Stadium here on Saturday.
Trained by Scott Geisinger, Carmel Convent capitalised most of the opportunites that came theier way. Strikers Namrata Kochhar Geisinger, Meghna and Ekta Kochhar Geisinger gave a tough time to the St Stephen’s defenders.
Scott said "Carmel Convent players are getting training for the last two years." Complimenting the efforts of the Chandigarh Football Association to inspire and provide opportunity to the footballers, Scott said "there are numerous openings for the Indian athletes in the USA universities. If the Indian athletes excel they can get full scholarships to study in America. Otherwise the cost is $ 40,000 per year."
He also praised the CFA for opening a training centre for girl footballers at the Dev Samaj College in Sector 45.
St Stephen’s coach NIS-trained Surinder Singh said "We are building a new team as the last batch has passed out. Some of them are very new to the game."
Meanwhile, St Stephen’s School put up an improved performance after resumption. They not only thwarted the attempts of Carmel Convent to increase their victory margin, the Stephen’s players also raided the rivals goal on a few occasion. However, a tough Carmel Convent defence proved a stonewall for them.
Stephen’s School suffered an early jolt as they conceded an early goal in the third minute. Namrata Kochhar Geisinger sprinted her way into the inner box before scoring a fine goal with a right footer. Namrata netted another goal in the 19th minute. Initiating a move from the left flank, Sanchi drove powerfully. Off the rebound from Stephen’s goalkeeper Puneet, opportunistic Namrata pounced on the ball before scoring the goal. With this Carmel Convent put their seal on the trophy.
Dr Akhil Bhargava, who sponsored the tournament, announced that it would be an annual feature to promote girls football. Dr Akhil is father of Under-13 Indian girls team captain Tanvi Bhargava.
St Stephen’s Principal Harold Carver was the chief guest and distributed the prizes.
Namrata Kochhar Geisinger, Meghna, of Carmel Convent, Gurleen Kaur and Harleen Randhawa,
of St Stephen’s School were adjudged the best players of the tournament.