Maharashtra U-14 girls win 2nd Place in AIFF National Football Festival

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Mumbai: Sixteen young talented girls did Maharashtra, India, proud by taking the 2nd place at the just concluded AIFF U-14 girls Football festival held in Chennai, India from the 23 December 2008 to 1 January 2009. The team was managed by PIFA director Mrs Anjali Shah and coached by Mr Nirvan Shah (UEFA B lic.).

The sixteen girls were 1.Kunashni Parikh (GK), 2.Rhea Nongrun (GK), 3.Tavishi Pandey (D), 4.Sakshi Mehta (D), 5.Spenta Daruwala (D), 6.Aayushi Jain (D), 7.Prajkta Sawant (D), 8.Prarthna Mali (D), 9.Leah Poonawala (M), 10.Mahek Mann (M), 11.Natasha Merchant (M), 12.Jacqueline Andrad (M), 13.Natasha Rajpal (F), 14.Marika Menezes (F), 15.Pooja Singam (F), 16.Krisha Parekh (F).

The girls after losing their opening match 0-1 against Tamil Nadu the tournament favorites and host. The bottom seeded Maharashtra team came back strongly into the tournament to hold Tripura 1-1 (Natasha M), Delhi 6-0 (Natasha M. 2, Natasha R. 2, Jacqueline A. 1 & Pooja S. 1), Uttar Pradesh 3-1 (Leah P, Tavishi P & Natasha R) and Karnataka 5-0 (Tavishi P. 2, Natasha M, Natasha R & Leah P).

Sakshi Mehta and Aayushi Jain topped the quiz contest while the entire team won the cultural program.
Maharashtra also did well in the skills – Beat & Score. Marika M., Krisha P. & Rhea N. won 2nd place in the prestigious tournament.

This is the first time a team from Maharashtra, India, has achieved such a high ranking in a national tournament. The team looked unbeatable and all other state coaches were full of praises for the team’s performance and conduct on and off the field. The team was brought together and trained by coach Nirvan for only 10 days before the tournament.

WIFA will be organizing a special felicitation ceremony in their honor.

The tournament was won by hosts Tamil Nadu