The closest chance Salt Lake had of keeping the trophy at home was when Bidhannagar Government High School of BD Block made it to the semi-final of IAM Champions League.
Institute of Advanced Management (IAM) had organised the inter-school football tournament at NKDA stadium, New Town.
The tournament was held with the aim to promote a spirit of camaraderie through a power sport like football. “IAM Champions League plays a role in fuelling motivation to play football across schools in the city and the surrounding areas,” said Biswajit Saha, the event coordinator of IAM.
Former India captain Bhaskar Ganguly and coach Biswajit Ghoshal were invited to inaugurate the tournament. Twenty participating schools were divided into two groups, which then led to the pre-quarter finals among the 10 top teams, out of which the five winning teams, and three losing teams with the best goal difference, made their way to the quarter-final round. Veteran footballer Amitava Chandra kickstarted the pre-quarter finals after he was felicitated.
Other than Bidhannagar Government High School, Naktala High School, Garia Barada Prasad High School (GBPHS) and Tirthapati Institution made it to the semi-finals.
The champions Tirthapati Institution with the trophy and a cheque replica
Although Naktala High School put up a high-calibre performance throughout the tournament, the Garia school got the edge in their fixture and made it to final. In the other semi-final, after an extremely competitive nail-biter of a match, Tirthapati Institution defeated Bidhannagar High School to make it to the final, putting paid to the chances of the trophy remaining in the township.
The final was thus between two south Calcutta teams. The trophy would eventually travel to Ballygunge with Tirthapati Institution defeating GBPHS in the final to secure a 3-0 victory and win the IAM Inter-School Championship.
Swarnadeep Ghoshal from GBPHS won the best goalkeeper award. Sayan Roy of Naktala High School and Bishal Maity of Tirthapati Institution were jointly named the top scorers in the tournament. Bishal also won the player of the tournament award.
“It feels great to have come this far and won so much in a single tournament. The fact that we won as a team comes first and then comes the bonus individual accolades. I am just happy that I could contribute to my team,” Bishal said.
Tirthapati Institution took home the champion's trophy along with a cash prize of Rs 25,000. GBPHS received Rs 15000 and the runner-up trophy while the Naktala school had to settle for the third place and Rs 10,000.