Narainpur, May 6 (IANS) Gujarat and Karnataka came out victorious in their respective Group B matches against hosts Chhattisgarh and Andaman & Nicobar, at the Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama Ground, on Tuesday. While Gujarat defeated hosts Chhattisgarh 3-2, Karnataka won 10-0 against Andaman & Nicobar in the Swami Vivekananda U20 Men’s National Football Championship.
Karnataka finished off their perfect campaign in Group B with a massive 10-0 victory against Andaman & Nicobar, their fourth win in as many matches.
Saikhom Borish Singh (14’, 39’, 42’, 45+1’, 45+5’) was the star of the show, netting five goals in the first half itself. B Abhiram (8’, 19’) scored two, and Prajwal V Gowda (65’) and Premish T (90+4’) netted two each, while Azeem Tariq (54’ og) was deemed to have scored an own goal.
Karnataka, who had already secured their spot in the quarter-finals before their last group stage game, will now face the winners of Group A, Meghalaya, in the last eight, on Friday, May 9, 2025, at 7.30 am IST.
Karnataka had already secured themselves the top spot in the group before the proceedings kicked off on Tuesday, essentially rendering both matches as dead rubbers. The toppers of Group B finished with a perfect 12 points from four matches, with Gujarat on nine, Tamil Nadu on six, Chhattisgarh on three, and Andaman & Nicobar on zero points.
Gujarat defeated hosts Chhattisgarh 3-2 in a topsy-turvy match that saw each side take the lead at least once.
Jesse Kom (4’) began the proceedings early on for Gujarat, placing his shot from outside the box into the bottom corner. The hosts, however, were determined to end their campaign with a result, and pulled back through Aditya Vishwakarma (29’), who finished off an intricate counter-attacking move. Shashikant Kumeti (45+1’) put the hosts in the lead when he made an interception in Gujarat’s attacking third of the pitch and finished it past the goalkeeper.
The second half was all about Gujarat, as Prajapati Rudra Minesh (62’) headed in a rebound off a free-kick to level things up for Gujarat, and Ashish Rana (88’) sealed the three points with a back-volley into the top corner.
–IANS
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