FC KHALSA REWARDED FOR YOUTH ACADEMY AT LEICESTER FOOTBALL TOURNAMENT
WOLVERHAMPTON WIN PREMIER DIVISION IN THRILLER OF A FINAL
Tarlochan Virk-
(SAMAJ WEEKLY)- Teams from all over the country converged to the beautiful multicultural city of Leicester on 22 and 23 June 2024 for the annual football tournament which was enjoyed by thousands in glorious hot weather where there were competitions for Seniors, Youth, Veterans, Juniors, and Girls. Nearly 100 teams participated in the two-day competitions.
PREMIER DIVISION FINAL
GSA 0 WOLVERHAMPTON 1
A Gutsy and resilient Wolverhampton clung onto a one goal lead. An injury to their Player of the Tournament goalkeeper reduced them to 10 men for the last 10 minutes. Some fine saves by the outfield deputy goalkeeper ensured a famous giant killing. Well done to and Congratulations to all management, players and supporters of Wolverhampton for being Champions at Leicester.
F.C. KHALSA LEICESTER
The club are being rewarded for starting a Youth Academy at their home ground at Judgemeadow Community College at the beginning of this year. The demand to enrol is so much new players are being put on waiting lists.
Under 9s were once again victorious in the Leicester Tournament. They were winners of Under 9s section in the Walsall tournament and followed that up by winning two out of three tournaments this year so far and reached the semi-finals at the Birmingham tournament.
Khalsa overcame a very talented Singh Brothers Derby in the final. F.C. Khalsa only conceded just one goal in the 6 games played and scoring massive 15 goals. The top goal scorer for the team was Rommelle Johnson who was fantastic throughout the day, and the player of the tournament was Rohan Ganatra who was fantastic from the 1st game to the last.
The team played some great football throughout the day and worked very hard despite having only 8 outfield players throughout the day.
Managers Kam Sangha and Harvir Maan are incredibly proud of the achievements of all the children and look forward to the next tournament. FC Khalsa were finalists in the Under11s group against Nottingham Sikh Lions.
Under 13s FC Khalsa Leicester managed by Raul Singh Basi { Grandson of late Jagir Singh Basi} and Rana Singh Basi with Physio coach Suzan Kaur Basi, reached the final of the Leicester tournament with some competitive games. Each game getting harder, but with our passing and moving tiki taka and total football style, we were able to win our semi final thanks to a great header from the captain Rohan Singh Basi. We played Singh Brothers Derby in the final who took the lead, the balance of the game shifted. We scored in the last few minutes of the second half to take the game to penalties.
Rohan the captain stepped up first and scored. Akaal the goalkeeper saves their penalty, he then goes on to make another save. Yusuf, Eesa and Archie all scored their penalties, and we won the tournament against a very good Derby team who had won the Birmingham tournament. During the course of the tournament Akaal was the main player between the sticks, Ryan and Archie defended magnificently with Rohan, Ayyan and Yusuf controlling the middle with Eesa up front.
With Q, a mountain of a player coming on alongside Karan and Kuram coming on from the bench, carrying on the momentum. Captain Rohan Singh Basi lifts the trophy for Khalsa as Yusuf and Archie shared the players of the tournament awards.
And in the crowd of supporters, was Rohan’s grandmother who was full of proud and joy seeing her grandson score the first penalty and giving the rest of team confidence to score their penalties and win the tournament
GIRLS FOOTBALL
Started only last year with about 5 teams and have become very popular with about 20 or so teams. In different age groups competing as hard as possible to be champions in different age groups. The winners in the Under 12s were Guru Nanak Parkash GNP Coventry Panthers. The Coventry Girls started strongly at Leicester by winning their first game 3-0 and eventually winning the competition without losing any matches. The player of the tournament was Mankirat Kaur.
The coach of the team Pardeep Singh said “I got into coaching after Covid when GNP Sports introduced girls’ football and I signed in 2021.I started coaching as an assistant for the Under 8s and a year later I set up the older girls’ team as Under 11s. This is my 3rd season in coaching. We play in the Central Warwickshire Girls and Women Football League CWGFL.
For the first time Nottingham Sikh Lionesses had the numbers to enter a girls’ team in the Under 10s group and they did not disappoint. Many of them having their first taste of organised football, they finished 3rd in their group and picking up their first silverware trophies in the process. On behalf of the club Sukhi commented “We are proud of our Under 10s Lionesses’. Girls and Ladies football is taking off in a big way. We hope to give our girls from Nottingham the chance to shine on the football pitch at all age groups in future tournaments.”
NOTTINGHAM SIKH LIONS
Had the biggest representation in history with over 90 youth players participating at Leicester. Men’s Vets lost in 1st round to a very young-looking West London FC. It was disappointing result after such an impressive cup and League season. Under 8s continued their great debut tournament season by picking up yet another trophy as Runners up.
After two below par tournaments Under 11s Lions finally roared into action finishing unbeaten and top of their group. They beat FC Khalsa Leicester in the final to win the tournament. a monumental achievement in the heat and as well having played all the toughest teams.
Under 13s reached the semi final. Under 15s were looking to go one better, having lost in the final at Birmingham. They won all their group games scoring 17 and conceding just once. They were unlucky in the semi final losing to Singh Brothers Derby. Under 15s did win the 3rd place play off so picking up medals.
In the Under 17s the club fielded A and B teams. It was amazing to see them come together at such a short notice. The more established A team reached the final and thud taking trophies back to Nottingham.
On behalf of FC Khalsa Leicester, Santokh Singh Bath said “We are proud of all our players in each of the different sections who put in 100% effort in all the games. We are grateful to the parents and relatives of players as well as all our supporters and sponsors for their continued support. I would like to say a very special thank you to all the coaches of the newly formed Youth Academy.”
The Leicester Football Tournament should be jointly organised as are the tournaments in other cities and staged at a different venue in view of the very serious incident that occurred in the 2023 tournament when a young player had a serious injury and the air ambulance did not know which of the three grounds to land at. Leicester football tournaments were successfully held at Victoria Park and Judgemeadow Community College as well as other venues before.
