Rajasthan enjoyed a flying start to the National Under-19 School Tournament 2023 in Srinagar. All the four Zinc Football Academy players – forwards Ashish Mayla and Jangminthang Haokip, defender Sanjay and goalkeeper Axay – played instrumental roles in the state’s strong start.
Ashish scored two brilliant free-kick goals to hand Rajasthan a comfortable 3-1 victory in the opening match versus Karnataka. Jangminthang came decisive in the second match against Bihar to score the all-important goal in the 1-1 draw. In the next match, he added another goal to his tally in Rajasthan 2-0 clinical win against Tripura. Having kept their first clean-sheet of the tournament against Tripura, Sanjay and Axay stepped up again in a close 1-0 win against Odisha in the Pre-Quarterfinal encounter.
Zinc Football Academy boys continued their good form to lead Rajasthan to a comfortable 3-0 victory over Delhi in the quarter-final. Ashish and Jangminthang scored one goal apiece while Sanjay and Axay keep their third clean sheet in a row.
Unfortunately, Rajasthan lost narrowly to CICSE in the semi-final. After the match ended goalless in normal time, CICSE edged it in the penalty shootout with a 4-2 win.
