The debut edition of the Zinc Football Youth Tournament kick-started with much fanfare at the Delhi Public School Ground, Udaipur, on January 16. 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 later 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.
This 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.
