Gokulam Kerala FC on Saturday clinched their maiden I-League title in spectacular fashion as they came back from a goal down to beat TRAU FC 4-1 in the final match of the season at the Kishore Bharati Stadium here.

Bidyashagar Singh’s 23rd-minute strike did little to stop the Gokulam juggernaut as goals by Sharif Mohamed (69th), Emil Benny (74th), Dennis Antwi (77th) and Mohammad Rashid (90+6) handed them the trophy.

With Churchill Brothers winning 3-2 against Punjab FC in the day’s other match held simultaneously at at Salt Lake Stadium, Gokulam shared points (29) with the Goan side but were crowned champions on head-to-head record.

In the two matches the two sides had played in the season, Churchill had won 3-2 once while Gokulam had emerged 3-0 victorious in the other.

Gokulam thus qualified for the group stage of the AFC Cup next season, Asia’s second tier club competition, as I-League champions.

They also became the first side from Kerala to win the I-League title.

Coach Vincenzo Alberto Annese could not hide his joy at his players’ achievement. “This is the best day of my life. I feel so happy and I feel amazing to be crowned a champion,” Annese said.

“I am immensely proud of my team and we deserved to be champions. We outscored all teams and we have played like champions in this season,” Annese added.

Gokulam pocketed Rs 1 crore as prize money while Bidyashagar won the highest goal scorer award (Rs 2.5 lakh) and player of the tournament award (Rs 5 lakh).

Duo shine

India’s Vijayveer Sidhu and Tejaswani Sawant claimed the gold medal in the 25m rapid fire pistol mixed team event to extend the country’s dominant run in the ISSF World Cup here on Saturday.

In an all-Indian gold medal match, Sidhu and Sawant comfortably beat the duo of Gurpreet Singh and Ashok Abhidnya Patil 9-1.