Narainpur, April 10 The second edition of the Swami Vivekananda U20 Men's National Football Championship kicked off with two Group E matches at the Ramakrishna Mission Ashrama Ground in Narainpur, Chhattisgarh, on Thursday.
While Chandigarh handed a 5-0 drubbing to Pondicherry to go top of the table, Telangana and Uttarakhand played out a goalless draw. A total of 35 teams, split into eight groups, are competing in the tournament. Delhi are the champions of the inaugural edition in 2024, also held in Narainpur. All matches are streamed live on the Indian Football YouTube Channel.
Chandigarh put on a dominant display, effectively finishing the contest by racing to a four-goal lead at half-time. Manveer Singh scored the tournament's first goal - taking advantage of a loose ball to tap in from close range in the 15th minute. He added another goal, a right-footed strike into the bottom corner, in the 28th minute. Sahil scored a hat-trick with goals in the 39th, 43rd and 64th minutes - beating the goalkeeper one on one, before a couple of point-blank conversions.
Chances were few and far between in the clash between Telangana and Uttarakhand, with both sides defending well from start to finish, and ultimately hanging on for clean sheets. With only one team set to progress to the quarter-finals, there will be little margin for error in the remaining four matches of the group.
Friday fixtures:
Delhi vs Dadra and Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu
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