Legends Cup 2016: Accenture crowned champions in the Bengaluru leg

Accenture Legends Cup
A jubilant Accenture team after winning the Bengaluru Leg

Bengaluru played host to the third leg of the Legends Cup, which saw Accenture run out champions after 18 hours of footballing action spread over two days. More than 300 players in 24 teams participated in the 5-a-side footballing extravaganza played on the 13th and 14th of May .

A sunny Bengaluru greeted all the teams spread out evenly into different and competitive groups with Tesco, HDFC Bank and Accenture claiming the title of favourites early on. The battle in the group stages was not only amongst the team, but also against the testing weather with the which separated the men from the boys.

A testing Saturday gave the tournament it’s four semi-finalists in the form of Accenture, SAP, HDFC Bank and Tesco qualifying for the last four.

Meanwhile, a brace from the player of the tournament, Anup, helped Accenture overcome SAP’s persistent pressure, HDFC and Tesco played out what was arguably the best game of the tournament in the second semis. A late strike from HDFC's Kevin eventually was what decided the game, propelling the bankers into the final against Accenture.

Anup was again a big factor in the finals as he set his Accenture teammate Deb to give the Tech giants an early lead. HDFC, however, didn't sit and came storming back to level the game before half-time. The second half saw Accenture carve open many opportunities but lacked the killer touch in front of goal.

Thus, the finals went into a penalty shootout which saw both convert the first two kicks. HDFC were the first to falter as their third attempt saw their skipper's shot thud against the post and come out. Accenture secured the victory on the next kick, booking their place in the National finals to be held in Delhi in July.

“It(Legends Cup) happens every year. Last year, unfortunately, we lost in the quarters and were very disappointed. This year we practised a lot and made sure we go out there and win this year,”said an exuberant captain of Accenture, Praveen Ponnappan.


Here is the list of the Winners and Runners up in The Legends Cup:

Elite Cup

Winners - GE(Best Player - Aditya, Best Striker - YG )Runners Up - Dreamworks(Best Keeper- Ram Prasad)

Champions Cup

Winners - Time Inc (Best Player - Santhosh, Best Keeper - Vijaya )Runners Up - Bosch ( Best Striker - Karthik)

Legends Cup

Winners - Accenture(Best Player - Anup , Best Keeper - Adithya )Runners UP - HDFC(Best Striker - Kevin)

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Edited by Staff Editor