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By Our Sports Reporter / Times of Oman
MUSCAT � The All-India Open Eight-A-Side Football Tournament to be organised by the Indian Social Club�s Kerala Wing as part of their Keralotsavam 2005 Youth Festival, has evoked a whopping response with eighteen teams (including a junior team from Indian School Darsait) entering the fray.
The one-day football extravaganza will be held at the Oman Club ground on Friday with the Indian Social Club�s sports secretary Imtiaz Usman kicking off the ceremonial ball at 8.30am.
The chief guest of the evening�s prize distribution ceremony will be Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Hassan Al Yahmadi, director of private sports, Ministry of Sports Affairs.
The draw for the tournament was held on the ISC premises on Tuesday evening with ISC Kerala Wing convenor Pradeep Menon chairing the function. The guest of honour for the evening was former Kerala Wing convenor, P.M. Jabir, who shared the
dais on invitation from the office-bearers.
All the representatives of the participating teams were present during the draw, which saw the teams being divided into four groups � A, B, C and D.
Out of the eighteen teams, seventeen were included for the draw (one of the group having five teams) and for the young boys from Indian School Darsait, an exhibition match with the oldies of the Kerala Wing was arranged.
This was to encourage the enthusiastic students, who were determined to fight it out with the big teams. The exhibition tie will be played during the break after the quarterfinals.
However, Indian School Darsait and Indian School Muscat (two teams) figure in the main draw.
Teams in Group A comprise Navelim, Survivors, Indian School Muscat B, ISC Kerala Wing A, while in Group B the teams in the fray are Canacona, United Goans, ISC Kerala Wing B, FC Kerala B and Chandor.
Group C had in its ranks Saligao, Ave Maria, FC Kerala B, Bad
Boys XI (ISM A), while Grey Unit (Indian School Darsait), OIG, Divar and Curtorim formed Group D.
The tournament will be played on league format during the group fixtures as the top two teams from each group qualify for the quarterfinals. The quarterfinals and semifinals will be played on a knockout format.
The tournament will begin with a march past of the participating teams with the chief guest in the morning taking the salute.
Awards will be given to the winners, runners-up, best goalkeeper, best player and top scorer.
Meanwhile, speaking at the function, Kerala Wing convenor Pradeep Menon sought full support from all the participating teams to make the event a grand success as it was last year.
Proposing the vote of thanks, Kerala Wing co-convenor P.P. Ajayan praised the enthusiasm shown by the Indian football fraternity and offered special thanks to each and everyone present at the draw function.
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