Star of Canara Sports Club emerged champions after recording a hard-fought 2-1 win against Karnataka Sports Club in the final of 23rd Late Shri Ramanath Payyade Memorial Football Tournament 2018-19, organized by the Karnatak SA and played at Karnatak Sports Centre, Cross Maidan.
The Star of Canara SC players are all smiles as they pose with the Payyade Memorial Trophy along with former World billiards champion, Ashok Shandilya, Guest of honour, Gaurav Payyade & former Indian Navy Sports Director, Jaala .
In an evenly contested match, Star of Canara dominated most of the proceedings and against the run of play opened the scoring when their ace sharpshooter Melwyn Vaz hit the target with a firm header in the 12th minute. Star of Canara held the lead till the end of the first half.
Star of Canara continued to hold sway after resumption and once again the mercurial striker Vaz showed excellent finishing by scoring the second goal to double their lead.
The Karnatak SC outfit who fought on gamely managed to reduce the margin of defeat when Akash Rathod scored a consolation goal late in the match.
Earlier in the third place match for the Hardline Cup, Udaya SC defeated Jaihind SC by a solitary goal. Calvin Pereira scored the all-important goal to help Udaya snatch a win.
The champions Star of Canara and runners-up Karnataka SC received trophies and cash prizes of Rs 55,000 and 45,000 respectively. Udaya and Jaihind received cash awards of Rs 25,000 and Rs 15,000 respectively
Results (final): Star of Canara SC 2 (Melwyn Vaz 2) beat Karnataka SC 1 (Akash Rathod).
Third place: Udaya SC 1 (Calvin Pereira) beat Jaihind SC 0.