Cuttack: Radha Raman Club (RRC) stopped the Sunrise Club juggernaut by dethroning the three-time successive champion to win the FAO first division league title here Sunday. In an edge-of-the-seat final RRC scraped past Sunrise Club 2-1 at the floodlit Barabati Stadium here.
Mosses Obasi and Arpan Lakra scored for the winning team in the 20th and 44th minutes respectively while Mithun Tanty got one back for Sunrise Club in the 67th minute.
Radha Raman dominated proceedings with their swift and skillful manoeuvring. They could have taken the lead in the fifth minute, but missed an easy chance. However, their constant aggression paid off when Abasi scored with a powerful shot. The goal motivated them and they continued to attack and were duly rewarded when Lakra hit the target a minute before the interval.
In the second session, Sunrise Club gave it their all to try and fashion a comeback. They earned a penalty which Tanty duly converted to reduce the margin. However, that was as far as they got.
Orissa sports and youth services minister Chandra Sarathi Behera was present as the chief guest at the prize distribution ceremony. The champion team was presented a cash prize of Rs 1,00,000 along with a glittering trophy. The losing team got a cash prize of Rs 50,000 along with a runners-up trophy.
Eleven former players, who had played for Orissa in the Santosh Trophy in 1967 were felicitated during the interval as a part of the golden jubilee celebrations of FAO. They were Bharati Krishna Mishra, Rabindra Nath Arukh, Debendra Prasad Singh, Sk. Aziz, Giridharilal Nayak, Bijay Das, Manmath Nath Singh, SK Yunus Bux, SK Halim, Birendra Singh and Krushna Chandra Behera.
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