Mangalore Young Stars (MYS) played with plenty of grit and determination and put a spirited performance but went down fighting 0-2 to the formidable Karnataka Sports Club in a well-contested Group-B first-round match of the Karnataka Sporting Association (KSA) organized KSA annual 26th Ramanath Payyade Memorial League-cum-Knockout Football Tournament 2023-2024 and played at the KSA ground, Cross Maidan.
The experienced Karnataka SC outfit encountered stiff resistance from the young opponents but managed to score two goals through their hard-working attackers Shrinath Rathon and Ayush Shetty to make a winning start and collect the full three points.
Group A encounters witness closed contests
In two evenly matched and closely contested Group-A encounters, Shree Krishna Sports Club got the better of Bunts Young Sangha by a narrow 1-0 margin.
Dashing striker Zuber Shaikh scored the lone goal of the match. Later, fancied Mangalore Blues also faced a strong challenge from Hamari Sillai Foundation Sports Club and managed to scrape through recording a 1-0 win with opportunistic goal-scorer Lalit Bangera scorin the all-important goal to secure the win.
Earlier, the tournament was inaugurated by Ravi Anchan, Vice-President, KSA and Gaurav Payyade, son of Ramanath Payyade and Cricket Secretary, KSA. Also present was KSA Joint Hon. Secretary Jaya A. Shetty and other KSA Executive Committee members.
A total of 10 teams are participating in this annual football tournament. The competing teams have been divided into two groups and will initially play on league basis. The top two teams from each group will qualify for the semi-finals.
The Groupings
Group-A: Mangalore Blues, Dombivli Friends FC, Billava Sangha Youth, Hamari Sili Foundation and Amrutha Caterers SC.
Group-B: Karnataka Sports Club, Mangalore Young Stars, Bunts Youth Sangha, Avengers SC and Shree Krishna SC.
Results – Group-A: Shree Krishna SC 1 (Zuber Shaikh) beat Bunts Young Sangha 0.
Mangalore Blues SC 1 (Lalit Bangera) beat Hamari Sillai Foundation SC 0.
Group-B: Karnatak SC 2 (Shrinath Rathon, Ayush Shetty) beat Mangalore Young Stars 0.
