Zinc football academy boys gearing up for their debut subroto cup tournament

Udaipur : Zinc Football Academy footballers, representing DAV HZL School Zawar Mines, is leaving no stone unturned as they look to start their debut campaign at the prestigious Subroto Cup, slated to be held between September 7-18 at New Delhi.

The Hindustan Zinc Ltd-initiated Academy have earned the honour of representing CBSE in the Subroto Cup International Football Tournament after their thumping victories at state and national levels. Interestingly, last year around the same time the same boys were in the stands watching the proceedings. However, this year, they will be on the ground, competing against top teams, thus, staging a memorable journey over such a short period of time.

The academy boys, all of whom are under the age of 16 years, have been pitted in a tough group D along with last year’s runners-up Afghanistan and domestic heavyweights Goa, Chandigarh and Tamil Nadu.

The under-17 category of the tournament will see 44 teams out of which 7 are international teams, divided into eight groups, vying for the top honours. The top team from each group will qualify for the knockout stages, scheduled from September 14.

Conducted by the Indian Air Force, with support from India's Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Subroto Cup Football Tournament is the most famous inter-school football tournament in India. Started in 1960, the tournament hosts preliminary inter-school tournaments in every state of India starting from Sub-division, District and Division level culminating in the inter-school finals at the national level. The school teams, winning the state inter-school championships are then invited to participate in the main Subroto Mukerjee Cup Tournament at Delhi.

Sunil Duggal, Chief Executive Officer, Hindustan Zinc Ltd said: "I am glad our Academy boys have earned the honours of participating in an international level tournament in such a short span of time, making all of us very proud. I hope they enjoy this exposure and bring back laurel by giving their best efforts. All the best.”

Suresh Kataria, Head Coach, Zinc Football Academy said: "We have worked hard to compete at this level and I can assure our boys will give their very best and try to make a mark in this tough Group.”

The 16-members squad of Zinc Football Academy representing DAV HZL School, Zawar are:

Ansay Goyari, Ayush Kushwaha, Sandeep Marandi, Mandeep Singh Solanki, Atul Kumar Meena, Jokonia Narzary, Suveen Swami, Aman Khan, Mohammed Adnan, Sonu, Himanshu, Rishav Choudhary , Rajeshwar Singh, Manohar, Gourav Meena, Subhash Damor.