Santosh Trophy 2024: Bengal and Bihar kick-start their campaign with fascinating wins

All teams are trying to prove themselves superior in the Santosh Trophy 2024.

Thirty-two-time champions West Bengal began their campaign in the 78th edition of the National Football Championship for the Santosh Trophy on Saturday, November 16, 2024, in style as they made short work of Jharkhand 4-0 in a Group C match at the Kalyani Stadium.

The hosts took time to settle down and took the lead a few minutes before halftime through Manotos Maji. In the second half, two goals by Robi Hansda in quick succession in the 65th and 66th minutes put paid to Jharkhand’s hopes of making a comeback.

Seasoned campaigner Naro Hari Shrestha rounded off the tally six minutes before the stipulated time.

In the other match of the same group, Bihar came back from a lone goal deficit to beat Uttar Pradesh 2-1. While Nitish Shyam put Uttar Pradesh in the lead in the 10th minute, Bihar struck through Karan Prajapati (52’) and Mohammed Tauhid Ahmad (83’) to return home with full points.       

Rajasthan, Gujarat earn full points

Hosts Rajasthan gave a good account of themselves at the Royal FC Stadium defeating former champions Maharashtra 2-1 in Group I. All goals came in the second half.

After Imran Khan put Rajasthan in the lead in the 49th minute, Himanshu Patil restored parity for Maharashtra in the 64th minute. Rajasthan, however, had the last laugh when Amit Godara found the winners for them in the 79th minute. All games were intense and the atmosphere was electric.

Gujarat, too, made a winning start to their campaign defeating Dadra & Nagar Haveli & Daman & Diu 3-0. Aman Shah, Jay Kanani and Krupal Lakhotra scored for the winners, who led 1-0 at the breather.  

Sunday, November 17, 2024 fixtures:

Group D (Agartala): Mizoram vs Manipur (9 am); Sikkim vs Tripura (4 pm).

Group G (Anantapur): Andaman and Nicobar vs Andhra Pradesh (9 am); Karnataka vs Tamil Nadu (3 pm).

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