NEW DELHI, September 8: The two Army Public Schools (Dhaula Kuan and Noida) stormed into the semi-finals of the Hindkishore inter-school Football Tournament for the Milo Cup at St Columba's School ground here today.APS (DK), despite having missed numerous chances, defeated Apex Public School by a solitary goal scored by Sunil Chetri in the 12th minute. APS dominated from the beginning but their striker lacked finishing. Apex School put up a brave front and resisted the attacks by strengthening the defence. But a blow in the 12th minute by Chetri left them shattered. Despite their best of efforts, Apex failed to pull out an equaliser.
In the other match, APS (Noida) defeated Vinay Nagar Bengali School 2-1. Prakash scored the opening goal in the third minute itself. In the 32nd minute, a long-ranger slipped out of Vinay Nagar goalkeeper Safiqul Islam's hands. Varun Sehgal, who was standing closeby capitalised on the chance and made it 2-0.
Vinay Nagar pressed hard to reduce the margin and their efforts paid dividends in the 40th minute when Pribrata Sarkar netted in.
The two Army Public Schools will clash in the semi-final on Thursday.
Assam school in quarters
New Delhi: Bezbaruah High School, Golaghat (Assam) made it to the quarter-finals of the Subroto Cup without even entering the field today at the Ambedkar Stadium.
Madhyamgram High School (West Bengal) needed a 6-0 victory in Group 3 to make it to the quarters. But they failed in their endeavour and only manged a 4-0 win over American High School (Tamil Nadu). Bezbaruah were, however, lucky to make the grade on better goal average.
Mani Maran opened the account for the winners in the fifth minute after recieving a cross from Prem Kumar. In the 38th minute, he headed home his second goal. In the 41st minute, Madhyamgram muffed a penalty kick which they had earned after American School's Selvaraj handled the ball inside the penalty area. But the Bengal boys made amends seven minutes later through Deepak Gayen, who headed in for their third goal. Soumik Duttagupta completed the tally in the dying minutes through a long-ranger.
In another match, IInd High School, Bokaro (SAIL) beat a spirited Government Senior Secondary School, Nagaland, by a solitary goal to make it to the quarters from Group 4. The all-important goal was scored by Mohammad Sameer, whose long-ranger from the top of the box beat goalkeeper Kevi, in the fourth minute.
But they failed to capitalise on a couple of other opportunities that came their way. More often than not, their forwards fumbled after entering the penalty area with their erratic shots.
Meanwhile, the over-age problem continued to disturb the tournament. Tournament committee has disqualified 30 players for being over-age in four groups, following medical tests. There may be a few more cases after the other groups undergo the tests.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.