3rd Go Green Cup 2012 - Football with an Ecological touch

The third edition of the Kenkre Go Green Cup 2012 turned out to be a roaring success at the Dadar Parsi Colony Gymkhana Grounds in Dadar (East) Mumbai. The tournament was held between February 19-22.

Boisterous excitement and innocent melodrama was on show as over 3,000 children aged between 8 to 16 years took part in the tournament. The Cup witnessed participation of teams from schools and clubs from across Mumbai city. In fact, for the first time an NGO – Oscar Foundation – had a podium finish, bagging the Runners-Up trophy in the Under-12 category.

Spurred on by friends and family, the thrill hit a peak as winning teams got to shake hands with chief guest Haroon Fakruddin Amiri, captain of the Afghanistan national football team, and guest of honour Abhishek Yadav, an ex-India international. Both players currently play for I-League side Mumbai FC.

Each winning team was presented with Rs 20,000 while each runner-up team took away Rs 12,000 as prize money. The cash prize was Rs 7,000 for third placed teams andRs 5,000 for the fourth placed teams.

The Go Green Cup is a community-based football tournament for children, initiated by the Kenkre Sports Foundation. Having entered its third year in 2012, the tournament is fast becoming a key date on the calendar for a legion of growing children in love with football in Mumbai. Using the pure joy of playing football as the background, the tournament aims to impress upon children the importance of teamwork and the awareness about Mother Nature and ecology with global warming and climate change.

Under-16 Category Final:Super Strikers 2-1 Candy Club1st – Super Strikers, 2nd – Candy Club, 3rd – Navy Children School, 4th – Palladium Bolts

Under-14 Category Final:Men in Blue 2-0 Classic 101st – Men in Blue, 2nd – Classic 10, 3rd – Backyard Footballers, 4th – Skorost United

Under-12 Category Final:Blue Bulls 3-0 Oscar Foundation (NGO)1st – Blue Bulls, 2nd – Oscar Foundation, 3rd – Bombay Bullets, 4th – Friends Circle

Children’s Open Category Final:Navy Children School 2-0 Red Devils1st – Navy Children School, 2nd – Red Devils, 3rd – DPYA, 4th – Soccer Girls